Wearing a mask on planes and airports is no longer mandatory in Brazil

The use of masks will no longer be mandatory on planes and airports in Brazil, determined by Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) this Wednesday (17). The use of the equipment will become only a recommendation

The measure takes effect from the moment it is published in the Official Gazette, which should happen in the coming days.

The topic was discussed by Anvisa’s Collegiate Board of Directors (Dicol) at its 15th Ordinary Public Meeting.

“Due to the mandatory use of masks in the most critical moments we experience, it is possible to achieve this situation so desired by all passengers, workers and the airport community, in which, given the current epidemiological scenario, the use of masks is no longer mandatory, as a collective health protection measure and takes place as an important individual health protection measure”, said director Alex Machado Campos, rapporteur on the subject in the collegiate.

“I reinforce that, despite the proposed flexibility, Anvisa continues to recommend the use of masks by everyone, especially for vulnerable people or people with flu symptoms, as an individual protection measure, not only against Covid-19, but also for all other diseases. transmitted by the respiratory route”, he added.

In addition to the change in the determination of the use of masks, distancing is also no longer mandatory. However, measures such as disembarkation per row remain, something that Anvisa considers a legacy of the pandemic and that helps to avoid turmoil on the departure of aircraft.

How is the rule for aircraft and airports

• Masks: recommended use
• Distancing: no longer required
• Disembarkation by ranks: still mandatory
• Alcohol gel on flights: still mandatory
• Aircraft cleaning: still mandatory
• Ventilation filter systems: still mandatory

Also on the agenda of the meeting was the discussion on the “possibility of exemption from registration and the requirements for exceptional authorization for the importation of vaccines and medicines for the prevention” of monkeypox.

However, the item was withdrawn from discussion as the technical analyzes to support the debate were not completed.

More than 680,000 people have died from Covid in the country so far and 35.2 million cases have been confirmed. Worldwide, there have been 6.4 million deaths and 590 million cases.

Now, Brazil joins European countries and the United States that have already overturned the mandatory mask on aircraft and inside airports.

In May, the European Union updated its restrictions and released the use of the accessory.

Patrick Ky, executive director of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), said then that the measure is “a big step towards the normalization of air transport” on the continent.

Some European countries — including Germany, Spain and Greece — maintained the mandatory use of the item, even after the European Union’s decision.

Earlier, in April, the United States had already removed the mandatory mask on planes.

Over the course of the pandemic, mandatory masking has been an especially contentious issue on planes, with airline employees having faced reluctance from many people, some even responding truculently. The agency responsible for air transport security in the US, the FAA, has recorded 744 incidents related to the use of masks since the beginning of the year.