LIMA | Peru has ordered the mandatory use of two masks simultaneously, inside shops and other heavily populated places, following a sharp rise in deaths and COVID-19 infections, according to a decree released on Saturday.
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This measure comes into force on Monday.
“The use of a double mask is mandatory to enter establishments at risk of agglomeration such as: shopping centers, galleries, supermarkets, markets, warehouses and pharmacies”, according to this decree.
This measure is in addition to the mandatory use of a transparent visor in these same establishments, imposed by the government on Monday.
Acting President Francisco Sagasti said on Thursday that Peru is at the peak of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. He ordered the free distribution of masks to the population.
To cope with this second wave, the government also reimposed, from April 25, compulsory quarantine on Sundays in Lima and in 41 of the 196 Peruvian provinces, mainly in the Andean region and on the coast.
The country currently has 1.7 million cases of COVID-19 for 59,440 deaths.
The vaccination plan launched on February 9 is slow due to the lack of doses.
As of April 22, 559,000 people had received the two necessary doses of vaccine, or 1.7% of the 33 million inhabitants of Peru, according to the Ministry of Health.