Face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic

While the Health Ministry warns citizens to protect themselves from the recent increase in "cocktail virus" cases, production has come to a halt in the mask facilities that Türkiye expanded with an investment of $50 million at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wearing masks will be obligatory again in Spain's hospitals and other healthcare facilities from Wednesday, the health ministry said on Monday as the country faces a flu outbreak.

The decree was announced after a meeting between the health ministry and representatives of the country's regions, who control their own health systems.

Amid the recent upsurge of respiratory viral infections, health experts are recommending the use of face masks in crowded areas, hand antiseptics, tests in case of respiratory symptoms, and above all the need for vaccination against Covid-19 and influenza of people at high risk of serious disease.

The Committee of Experts concluded its session discussing the reinstatement of mandatory mask use in hospitals and accommodation units on Thursday. Sources indicate no decision on a universal return to masks in healthcare facilities, only a strong recommendation for their usage. 

The mandatory use of protective masks at hospitals and other healthcare facilities was lifted on Monday, marking the end of measures aimed at stopping the spread of Covid, which has dropped sharply in recent months. 

With the number of weekly coronavirus infections, which was 26,635 last week, having surpassed 57,000, experts once again warn citizens to get their booster shots if six to eight months have passed since the final dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Experts have recommended all citizens continue to wear facemasks voluntarily indoors and outdoors, while the number coronavirus infections have increased.

According to the health ministry, the number of infections across the country reached 26,635 with an 11,000 rise between June 20 and 26. In the mentioned week, 17 people died due to the infections.

Fahrettin Koca, Türkiye's health minister, has said the bad days of the coronavirus pandemic are over and refused the allegations that face masks will be mandatory again in the fall.

With the rise of the number of infections, an assertion that citizens will be forced to wear face masks again in the up-coming months sensationalized the social media last week.

Turkey has scrapped a mandate for wearing face masks on public transport, though people will still be required to have them on in hospitals, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has announced.

While Turkey has lifted the outdoor mask mandate fully and the indoor mask mandate partially, implemented only in public transportation and hospitals, some young people "obsessed with beauty" continue to wear masks to cover "flaws on their faces," according to experts.