Beijing, China has lifted the requirement to wear face masks in open spaces

The capital in several weeks has stayed without reporting new infections of coronavirus. The order came into force five days after the start of the annual session of the National People’s Congress.

The use of the mask in open spaces as a method of prevention of infections by the coronavirus was no longer mandatory in Beijing as of this Sunday, reported the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the Chinese capital.

However, the health authorities of the capital recommended that security distances continue to be maintained with the rest of fellow citizens.

Since January, the mask had become indispensable in the city . Many stores did not allow access to their facilities without their use, and security forces agents required bystanders who had momentarily removed it to replace it.

The new regulation comes five days before the annual session of the National People’s Congress (equivalent to Parliament) begins in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, and after several weeks without the capital registering new positives for the virus.

According to data published in the last hours by the National Health Commission of China, there are 86 infected with coronavirus in the Asian country , of which 10 are in serious condition. Since the start of the outbreak, China has recorded 4,634 deaths from COVID-19 among the 82,947 infected diagnosed so far.

However, the relaxation of the measure comes even though the authorities do not consider that the pandemic has been overcome : fears of a second wave have increased as groups have emerged in the northeast provinces and in the central city of Wuhan.

” Most Chinese at this time are still susceptible to Covid-19 infection, due to lack of immunity ,” Zhong Nanshan, the public face of the government’s response to the pandemic, told CNN . “We are facing (a) great challenge,” added Zhong. ” It is not better than foreign countries, I think right now .”