Spain’s government will lift the requirement to wear a facemask on public transport next month, Health Minister Carolina Darias announced on Thursday.
“I will present a proposal to the Council of Ministers on 7 February to stop making the facemask compulsory in public transport,” Ms. Darias told the press, without specifying the exact date on which the measure would take effect.
“We currently have a very stable epidemiological situation,” the minister said, adding that facemasks would remain compulsory in health centres and hospitals.
Traumatised by the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, Spain had imposed one of the strictest confinements in the world. The measure was highly respected in the country, until it was relaxed in 2021.
At the end of 2021, Spain was one of the few countries to reinstate, for a few weeks. the obligation to wear facemasks outdoors, in order to deal with the outbreak of the Omicron variant.
Madrid lifted the requirement to wear a facemask indoors in April 2022, but it remained compulsory on public transport (metro, bus, trains, etc.).
