Regional officers in Catalonia want 'toughened' mask wearing rules

Catalonia's regional officials on Tuesday said that they want to toughen the rules to make wearing masks compulsory in public. These officials want to toughen the existing rules to stop the surge in coronavirus cases in the country.

Around 200,000 people in Lerida, west of Barcelona were placed under strict lockdown on Saturday after over 1,000 cases of COVID-19 were detected since early June. They have reported 64 new cases in the last 24-hours.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Wearing masks is already compulsory in Spain if people are unable to avoid being closer than 1.5 metres while commuting through public transport.

"We want to make wearing masks obligatory at all times," regional government spokeswoman Meritxell Budo said by way of clarification.

"We have noticed some easing up in the use of masks" so a tighter measure might be called for, she explained.

Fernando Simon, the chief Spanish epidemiologist, said on Monday that he was "very concerned" of the outbreak in Catalonia.

With more than 28,300 deaths from the virus, Spain is one of the countries hit hardest in Europe.

From mid-March until June 21 Spaniards were subjected to one of the strictest lockdown regimes on the continent.

(Inputs from AFP)