Rules requiring all airline passengers to wear a face-covering on board a flight will be lifted in the coming days. Mandatory wearing of face masks in airports and on European flights is now "no longer recommended," the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has confirmed.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and ECDC will change the rules and drop the requirement from Monday May 16. However, vulnerable passengers have been told they should continue to wear a mask.
EASA executive director Patrick Ky said: "From next week, face masks will no longer need to be mandatory in air travel in all cases, broadly aligning with the changing requirements of national authorities across Europe for public transport."
ECDC director Andrea Ammon added: “The development and continuous updates to the Aviation Health Safety Protocol in light of the ongoing Cocid-19 pandemic have given travellers and aviation personnel better knowledge of the risks of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants. While risks do remain, we have seen that non-pharmaceutical interventions and vaccines have allowed our lives to begin to return to normal.
"While mandatory mask-wearing in all situations is no longer recommended, it is important to be mindful that together with physical distancing and good hand hygiene it is one of the best methods of reducing transmission. The rules and requirements of departure and destination states should be respected and applied consistently, and travel operators should take care to inform passengers of any required measures in a timely manner.
"The importance of these measures should continue to be effectively communicated to passengers for their safety, and ECDC will continue to work with our colleagues at EASA to regularly assess and amend the recommendations as necessary.”
Italy, France, Bulgaria and several other European countries have already relaxed or ditched many measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Spain is also set to ease its remaining restrictions from next week.
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