British holidaymakers visiting Mar Menor tourist area of Spain may have to wear masks most of the time

BRITISH tourists planning to visit the Mar Menor holiday area of Murcia this summer may be forced to wear masks for most of the time when outdoors.

Murcia´s health minister, Manuel Villegas, said today(July 9) that the regional government is seriously looking into following Catalunya´s lead of extending mask wearing across Murcia due to the recent spike of localised coronavirus cases.

Masks now have to be worn in the Catalan region of Spain in public outdoor areas, even where social distancing can be maintained.

The Balaeric Islands will introduce the same rule next week with spot fines of €100 for non-compliance.

The Valencian Community, including the Costa Blanca, has ruled out introducing such a measure, at least for now.

Manuel Villegas said; "The idea has been proposed and our experts are going to look into it."

There are three Covid-19 outbreaks being monitored in the Murcia region with the biggest incident involving 49 cases linked to a locally-based family that returned to the area from Bolivia.

Three cases were confirmed in Torre Pacheco and the same number within a family in the Cartagena area.

Source: theolivepress.es