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Peru Begins Requiring Double Masks


FILE -Passengers wearing face masks wait outside a bus terminal, in Lima, Peru, Jan. 30, 2021.
FILE -Passengers wearing face masks wait outside a bus terminal, in Lima, Peru, Jan. 30, 2021.

Peru is now mandating that people wear two face masks in places where crowding is possible like commercial buildings.

The regulation, aimed at slowing a deadly second wave of the virus, began Monday, and was first reported in Peru's national newspaper, El Peruano.

The paper said a Supreme Decree (#083-2021-PCM) also mandates double masking in malls, grocery stores, shopping arcades, markets and warehouses.

Under the new initiative face shields are also recommended along with the double masks. The government still requires people to wear face mask in all public spaces.

Additionally, health authorities are conducting intensive epidemiological surveillance to identify any increase in cases of people infected with COVID-19 and responding to the situations.

Peru is racing to get people vaccinated as the country’s COVID-19 rates remains among the highest in Latin American, with 1,761,575 confirmed infections and 59,724 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University Covid Resource Center.

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