(Fighting new crown pneumonia) Jena, Germany pushes mandatory masks

China News Agency, Berlin, March 31 (Reporter Peng Dawei) In response to the ongoing development of the new crown epidemic, the eastern German city of Jena announced recently that it would follow Austria's practice and begin to require all citizens to purchase and use public transport one week later. Wear a mask or cover your nose and mouth with a fabric such as a scarf. This is the first German city to take such measures. In response, German Federal Minister of Health Spand said on the 31st that there is no need to implement the above measures across Germany.

According to the German "Time Online" report, as of 22:00 on the 31st, a total of 68,692 people were diagnosed, 7635 were cured, and 746 died in Germany. It is worth noting that in recent days, the case fatality rate, which once remained at a few thousandths in Germany, has begun to rise, and has now exceeded 1%.

Jena, located in Thuringia, eastern Germany, is currently diagnosed with 118 deaths and one death. After the German-speaking country, Austria, announced that the public is required to wear masks for shopping in supermarkets, and the supermarkets also need to actively distribute masks, the Jena City Council announced similar measures on the 30th.

Jena Mayor Niche said in a video address to citizens on the 31st that wearing a mask by a virus carrier can effectively reduce the risk of infecting people around it, so ideally, it will be effective when all citizens of Jena wear a mask Protect healthy people from being infected. He also said that due to the current shortage of supply of masks in Germany, the city could not provide masks for all citizens, so he called on citizens to try to make masks at home as much as possible.

Regarding Jena's above-mentioned approach, German Federal Health Minister Spand responded on the same day, saying that in the current situation "there is no need to mandate the wearing of masks." He also said that he had noticed more people wearing masks to protect others from infection, and he saw it as a "symbol of solidarity." The governor of NRW, Germany, the second most confirmed diagnosis in Germany, also agreed with Spahn on the same day.

However, German Minister of the Interior Zehofer believes that it is not ruled out that when the epidemic develops to the middle stage, as the infection rate declines and economic life returns to normal, people will need to wear masks. (Finish)