File photograph of masks being worn in the street. SUR

Spain ends the general use of Covid masks outdoors, but there are exceptions

The Official State Gazette (BOE), published this Wednesday, details the situations when the coronavirus protection measure will remain mandatory

ROSEL APARICIO

Wednesday, 9 February 2022, 10:37 | Updated 18:43h.

Spain’s Official State Gazette (BOE) has this Wednesday, 9 February, published the royal decree order that ends the general obligation to wear a coronavirus mask in outdoor spaces.

It is a measure that the autonomous regions and the Ministry of Health agreed last Monday and that the Government approved on Tuesday during a meeting of ministers. The masks, therefore, will no longer be mandatory in outdoor spaces and school playgrounds from this Thursday, 10 February.

However, the order maintains the use of masks "in mass events" and they also remain mandatory on public transport, "specifying that this includes passenger platforms, stations and cable cars."

When is it mandatory to wear the mask?

According to the BOE document, people aged six and older are obliged to wear masks in the following cases:

In any closed space for public use or that is open to the public.

At mass events that take place in open-air spaces, when attendees are standing. If they are seated, it will be mandatory when a safety distance of at least 1.5 metres between people cannot be maintained, except for groups of people who live together.

In air, bus and rail transport facilities, including platforms and passenger stations, or on cable cars, as well as public and private passenger transport in vehicles with up to nine seats, including the driver, if the occupants do not live at the same address. In closed spaces of ships and boats when the safety distance of 1.5 metres cannot be maintained, except for groups of cohabitants.