ARCHIVED - The end is in sight for masks on public transport in Spain
The Ministry of Health in Spain plans to remove the Covid-19 safety measure in February
One of the last coronavirus restrictions, mandatory masks on public transport, look set to be removed at the beginning of next month, although they will still be required in health care centres for the time being.
The welcome news was revealed by the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, who concluded that, more than a week after flights were opened up between Spain and China, where infections have exploded, the impact on the peninsula has been virtually nil.
At the start of the new year the WHO expressed concern about the Kraken variant and although a few cases have been recorded in Spain, most recently in Andalucia, the pandemic data is, on the whole, stable.
The Ministry announced at the end of 2022 that it had set March as the goal date for abolishing masks on public transport but this has now been pushed forward, with the addendum that the measure will be reintroduced if the health situation worsens.
"We will have to see how the times evolve, although we must observe how China evolves to make the decision,” Ms Darias said earlier this week, adding that without a doubt the end of mandatory mask-wearing is now much “closer.”
On Friday December 30, Spain became one of the first countries to impose travel restrictions on passengers arriving from China. Since then, more than 500 tests have been carried out on 1,047 incoming travellers, and only two positive cases have been detected.
If the mask rule is scrapped at the beginning of February, they will no longer be mandatory on buses, trains, the Metro or flights.
Image: Archive
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