Downing Street has piled pressure on Sadiq Khan not to stretch out mask wearing rules on Transport for London services longer than necessary.
Londoners are still required to wear face coverings on the Underground and buses despite Plan B restrictions easing last month.
On Wednesday the Government announced it will scrap the last domestic Covid restrictions in England, including the legal duty to self-isolate, by the end of February - a month earlier than planned.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said the rule changes were being brought forward because “huge” numbers of people had come forward for vaccination and hospital admissions were dwindling.
When asked if the Prime Minister would like to see the Mayor of London drop mask requirements on TfL, his spokesman said he would expect the Government advice to be followed.
“Obviously we would expect everyone to make judgements according to the advice and what we are seeing in terms of the progress of the virus and hopefully we will see these positive trends in the decline [of Covid case],” the PM’s spokesman said.
He added: “It’s obviously up to Transport for London who have that capability about what is suitable for them.”
More than 1,400 people were fined for not wearing a mask on public transport in London after the Government reintroduced legal requirements to wear them at the end of November due to the spread of the Omicron variant.
TfL also turned away more than 2,000 maskless people trying to board services.
When the Plan B restrictions were relaxed in January TfL lost its power to fine commuters who do not comply.
But Mr Khan kept face covering rules in place and urged the Government to “rethink their plans” saying masks are “one of the single most important and easiest things we can all do to prevent the spread of Covid-19”.
