Spain will eliminate the obligation to wear a mask outdoors on Tuesday, a measure introduced in December in the midst of an escalation in COVID-19 infections, thanks to the current improvement in health indicators, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, announced on Friday.
“Next Tuesday we will take to the Council of Ministers the Royal Decree by virtue of which we will eliminate the mandatory use of the mask outdoors”, Darias told Cadena SER radio.
The day before, on Monday, the issue will be discussed and presumably approved by the Interterritorial Council, an entity that includes the government and representatives of the regions, which in Spain they are competent in matters of public health, explained the minister.
A few days before Christmas, the government reinstated the obligation to wear a mask outdoors due to the rise in infections, driven by the more contagious omicron variant.
“We said that (the measure) was going to be for the time strictly necessary, until the indicators, as is being verified, advised a different measure”Darias said.
“Several weeks ago we have seen how each and every one of the indicators is improving day by day,” the minister continued.
The omicron variant multiplied cases like no other, but it did not cause as many deaths or hospitalizations, which has led to several regions in Spain to ease the restrictions established in December in the midst of the sixth wave of covid-19.
Few countries in the world opted to impose a mask outdoors, and many do not require wearing it in those circumstances when safety distances are respected.
In Spain it was imposed for the first time from the age of six in May 2020, in the middle of the first wave, and was lifted thanks to the improvement of the situation on June 26, provided that there was a distance of 1.5 meters between two people .
Spainwhich has nearly 91% of its population over 12 years of age vaccinated, has registered more than one million cases and 94,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
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Source: Gestion
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