Fiona Govan
SPAIN’S Health Minister has rejected plans to relax face mask rules and they will continue to be compulsory on public transport and in health centres.
While other nations across Europe have dropped Covid rules, Spain’s requirement to wear masks in medical settings such as hospitals, care homes and pharmacies will remain in place.
“We’re following the advice of the experts,” insisted Health Minister Carolina Darias following the cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
In April, Spain dropped the requirement to wear face masks in public indoor settings such as supermarkets and cultural settings but it has remained obligatory to wear masks when using public transport and to protect the most vulnerable at health care centres.
She said the measure would stay in place until at least the autumn when a new vaccination programme will be rolled out across Spain.
In this sense, the public health expert, José Martínez Olmos, underlines:
“The virus is still circulating and people are still dying from it,” explained public health expert Jose Martinez Olmos who pointed out that 340 deaths have occured from Covid in the last week.
In hospitals across Spain 4,603 patients are currently being treated for Covid with 271 being cared for in intensive care units (ICU).
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