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Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Winslet and Jennifer Ehle have teamed up with scientists from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health to offer four individual homemade videos with advice and a message of unity, reports dailymail.co.uk.

"Wash your hands like your life depends on it," Winslet said in her PSA, adding: "Because right now, in particular, it just might."

Ehle stressed that the coronavirus is novel, meaning no one is immune.

"Every single one of us, regardless of age or ethnicity, is at risk of getting it," she said.

"Contagion", directed by Steven Soderbergh, explores a scenario in which a lethal and fast-moving influenza is spreading around the world.

In his video, Damon said that it is "creeping its way up the charts on iTunes, for obvious reasons".

The actor, who in the film played a character who was immune to the hypothetical virus, also stressed listening to experts and staying six feet apart.

"That was a movie. This is real life. I have no reason to believe that I'm immune to COVID-19. And neither do you," he said.

Fishburne appeals to helping medical staff on the front line.

"If we can slow this thing down, it will give our doctors and our nurses in our hospitals a fighting chance to help us all get through this thing together," he said.

The PSAs were written by the film's screenwriter, Scott Z. Burns, under the guidance and with the input of the same medical experts who worked on the movie. They were all shot by the actors themselves, with Winslet's husband helping film her video.

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