Sao Paulo removes his mask also in closed environments

Sao Paulo, 17 Mar Sao Paulo, the most populous and wealthy state in Brazil, announced this Thursday the end of the mandatory use of masks also in closed environments, just over a week after the demand was lifted abroad. “I have just signed a decree that immediately releases the use of masks in closed premises in Sao Paulo,” the São Paulo governor and presidential candidate, Joao Doria, announced on social networks, who attributed the decision to the “advance of vaccination and the drop in hospitalizations and deaths” due to the coronavirus. Doria added that, for now, masks remain mandatory only in health units, hospitals and public transport in the 645 cities of São Paulo. “(It is) a long-awaited moment after two challenging years. I am very happy!” , he completed. According to the Government of Sao Paulo in a statement, the decision was based on the “technical analysis” of the scientific committee for the fight against coronavirus, which took into account factors such as the rate of the population fully vaccinated with the virus and the drop in the numbers of people admitted for the disease. “The specialists took into account the rate of two-dose vaccination in the state, which reached the goal defined” by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health “of 90% of the eligible population, that is, immunized over 5 years,” he said. The experts also considered that, 14 days after the Carnival festivities, there was “continued improvement in epidemiological indicators”, indicating that the decline in SARS-CoV-2 transmission “continues progressively” in the region. “For the sixth consecutive week, there were drops in admissions in intensive care and nursing beds,” stressed the institution, in addition to indicating that, in the last week alone, new hospitalizations fell by 18.5% compared to the previous week. São Paulo, with some 46 million inhabitants, is the Brazilian state most affected by the covid-19 health emergency, with more than 5.1 million confirmed cases and 166,446 deaths from the disease. Nationally, Brazil accumulates 29.5 million infected and 656,425 deaths, according to data released this Thursday by the Ministry of Health, figures that make it the second country in the number of fatalities, after the United States, and the third in infections after the North American nation and India. The country's most populous region thus joins at least ten other Brazilian states that have made the use of masks more flexible in both open and closed places in recent days, including Rio de Janeiro and the Federal District, where the capital Brasilia is located. The easing of containment measures is largely due to the good reception of immunization, which has allowed almost 74 per cent of the 213 million Brazilians to have the full schedule and 33 per cent have received the booster dose. CHIEF nbo/wgm/rrt