South Korea to drop public transport mask mandate

Seoul, Mar 15 (EFE).- The requirement for face masks to be used on public transport in South Korea will be removed next week as Covid-19 case numbers continue to drop, the government said Wednesday.

Vice Interior Minister Han Chang-seob announced at a Covid response meeting that the public transport mask mandate will be lifted on Mar. 20, according to Yonhap news agency.

Currently, the use of face masks is still mandatory on public transport, including buses, subways and taxis, but their indoors use was removed on Jan. 30.

Exceptions were made for hospitals, pharmacies and other high-risk facilities such as senior care centers, where masks must continue to be worn.

South Korea will join the many countries that have also eliminated the mandatory use of masks on public transport due to stable infection numbers, which currently total around 10,000 cases per day in the Asian country.

South Korea, which has a population of 51.7 million, has accumulated 30.6 million infections since the start of the pandemic and just over 34,000 deaths linked to the virus, which implies a fatality rate of 0.11 percent. EFE

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