Spain ends face mask mandate on public transport

Face masks will no longer be required to be worn on public transportation in Spain starting on Feb. 8 after the decision to stop using them as a COVID-19 defense was made during Tuesday's (Feb. 7) cabinet meeting.

The decision marks the latest step towards life returning to normal in Spain following the COVID-19 pandemic, with the obligatory use of facemasks in most indoor settings ending on April 20, 2022, and outdoors a year ago, on Feb. 10.

"We are following the roadmap that we planned to return to normality," Spain's Minister for Health, Carolina Darias, told journalists.

Face masks will, however, still have to be worn in hospitals, health centers and pharmacies "due to the vulnerability of the people who are there," the minister said.

According to Darias, the country's epidemiological situation is steadily improving.

On Feb. 3, the country's population 60 years of age and above had a 14-day notification rate of new COVID-19 cases of 50.76 cases per 100,000 people, down nearly 50 points from the rate of 97.60 cases per 100,000 people recorded on Jan. 20.

150 of the 2,056 hospitalized patients with the virus are receiving intensive care. In Spain, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 118,712 persons since the pandemic's beginning.