Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

COVID-19

Spain makes masks mandatory on all public transport

Spain will make masks mandatory on public transport from Monday May 4th to prevent a new wave of coronavirus infections as it starts lifting strict lockdown measures, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday.

Published: 2 May 2020 17:54 CEST
Spain makes masks mandatory on all public transport
Photo: AFP

Spain's government, which had until now “highly recommended” the use of masks, will distribute six million across the country's main transport hubs from Monday and supply another seven million to local authorities.

A further seven million masks will be given to the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) and 1.5 million to various charities such as the Red Cross, Cáritas and Cermi.

Sánchez's government already launched a massive distribution plan of masks on public transport on Monday April 13th to coincide with the end of the lockdown period for non-essential economic activities.

Fernando Simón, director of Spain's Centre for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies, said last Wednesday that the use of face masks among the general population was “highly desirable” and “highly recommended” but that he wasn't in favour of making it mandatory. 

READ MORE: 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

READ ALSO: 

People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

SHOW COMMENTS