Faced with the outbreak of winter viruses and in particular the flu, wearing a mask will be mandatory again in hospitals and public health centers in Spain from Wednesday, the Ministry of Health announced on Monday evening.
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Spain, a country traumatized by the first wave of the Covid pandemic in spring 2020, had been considering the measure for several days, while Spanish regions in control of health issues disagreed.
The measure was adopted after a meeting with representatives of the various Spanish regions on the topic of “coordinated public health measures in the face of these winter epidemic peaks”.
However, the Ministry of Health specifies that wearing a mask will not be mandatory in pharmacies.
On Friday, the Spanish government announced that it wanted to return the mask requirement to the national level.
Given the “remarkable increase in infections caused by respiratory viruses,” “we demand” the return of the “requirement to wear masks in sanitary and social spaces” in the country, said Health Minister Monica Garcia on X.
The minister spoke in particular of public “hospitals” and “health centers” where the majority of consultations are carried out.
The Valencia region (east) and Catalonia (northeast) had already announced on Friday that they would make the wearing of masks compulsory for health workers and patients in their hospitals and health centers.
This decision was taken while doctors have been sounding the alarm for several days about the increase in cases of flu, but also of Covid-19 or other respiratory viruses, especially in the eastern regions of the country.
During the Covid pandemic, mask requirements have been widely observed in Spain, where the imposed curfew was among the strictest in the world.
It was not until July 2023 that the mask requirement was lifted in places where people at risk are likely to be, such as hospitals, retirement homes or even pharmacies.