Cuba lifts mandatory use of face masks

Health authorities in Cuba have decided to lift the mandatory use of face masks against Covid-19. Face masks had been a requirement in the country during the last two years as part of efforts to fight the pandemic. 

The decision was confirmed by Public Health Minister José Ángel Portal who said, however, that self-care remains “a key” to both individual and collective health protection. Mr. Portal also said that no rolling back of restrictions is permanent: “It will depend on the Cuban epidemiological situation.” 

Ravaged by a lack of supplies due to increasing economic sanctions under former US President Donald Trump, Cuba conducted a restrictive crusade against the coronavirus, even closing its doors to foreign tourism. At the same time, the Caribbean island became the first Latin American country to produce its own Covid vaccines, which helped it to inoculate almost 90 percent of its population, according to Our World in Data.

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