POPULAR holiday hotspots in Spain are reintroducing mandatory face masks as cases of Covid surge in the country.
Those taking a break from the British winter sun to holiday in Benidorm and elsewhere may have to don their masks again amid rising cases of Covid and the flu.
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Hospitals and health centres across Spain are filled with patients lying in corridors and waiting hours to be seen.
And family doctors across the country are calling for masks to be made compulsory inside healthcare facilities nation wide.
They claim the latest surge of Covid and flu, which came over winter, is getting out of control.
Although the Spanish government has yet to introduce any laws making it mandatory to wear them, different regions have set out new rules.
Valencia, with over 800,000 residents, is setting out guidelines already.
Benidorm, in Alicante, is part of the Valencia municipality.
Its health department on Friday reinstated the obligatory use of masks while inside a health centre.
The move is an attempt to counter the climbing rise in respiratory infections and protect the vulnerable as officials said the area’s health services are reportedly at the point of collapse.
For every 100,000 people in the city, health services are tackling 1,501 cases and hospitals are almost at full capacity.
Health authorities there also plan to vaccinate against flu and Covid beginning on Monday – without appointments.
A number of 2023 reports on respiratory infections including Covid showed an increasing rate globally.
Those recieving treatment in Primary Care went from 806 to 908 cases per 100,000 people in just a week.
Certain conditions apply to those who have to don face masks.
Symptomatic people in shared spaces, professionals who care for symptomatic cases and people who work in intensive care or with vulnerable patients must wear them.
The rules also apply inside hospitals or primary care emergency facilities or in places where patients and families are gathered – like waiting rooms.
The surge in cases is expected to peak in the third week of January.
There are hospitals in the Valencia province currently at 96% occupancy.
Family doctors are seeing 15 off-schedule patients a day due to the rising infections, with influenza A in seven out of ten cases.
