The Consejo de Ministros (Council of Ministers) will vote next Tuesday to repeal the requirement to wear a mask outdoors, which has been in effect since December 24, according to Health officials.
The law to lift mask wearing outdoors might go into effect the next week
The Council of Ministers’ decision came after the Government confirmed the royal decree law on February 1st, which reinstated the necessary use of the mask outdoors, except in circumstances of individual sport or being in natural areas.
The approval occurred despite heavy criticism from the opposition, as the Government included in the decree the updating of pensions in order for the provision to be implemented. Carolina Darias, the Minister of Health, has emphasised in recent days that the masks’ redesign was nearing completion and that their forced usage would only be for a limited period of time.
Various research suggest that this technique is ineffective, owing to the fact that most illnesses originate inside. As a result, many experts have spoken out against its use in the streets when there are no crowds, prompting opposition parties and some autonomous regions to call for a return to the previous situation, in which it was only mandatory outdoors when the safety distance could not be maintained, or even in closed environments.
Covid incidence has decreased
Darias stated in the Lower House that the legislation is “closer to modulating” because the prevalence of Covid is decreasing. Last Wednesday, he went even farther, declaring that the relaxation will be investigated by the Public Health Commission.
According to Ministry of Health data, the incidence of infection is continuing to drop. The autonomous communities reported 183 deaths and 74,368 new instances of coronavirus on Thursday, bringing the total number of people infected with Covid-19 since the pandemic’s start to 10,199,716.
In terms of the current average incidence of illnesses in Spain over the previous 14 days, the report shows that it has continued to fall, standing at 2,420.63 instances per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to the 2,564.27 reported on Wednesday by Carolina Darias’ department.
Spain has surpassed the 94,000 deaths reported since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in the midst of the sixth wave, on a day when the incidence has dropped 144 points, to 2,420 cases, with 74,368 new positives discovered.