Public health regulations extended to July 31

The Health Ministry has extended the Public Health Regulations to July 31, under Legal Notice 114 of 2022.

The version of the regulations currently in place is the Public Health [2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)] (No 7) Regulations, 2022. These replace version No 6, which were valid until May 31.

The regulations cover the wearing of face masks, which remains mandatory, including in vehicles, public places, businesses, and educational, religious and ecclesiastical establishments, as well as penalties and associated appeal processes.

There are some "reasonable excuses" for not wearing a face mask, such as having a mental or physical illness, impairment, or disability; to avoid harm or injury, or the risk of harm or injury, to himself or others; eating and drinking; to take medication; temporarily for identification purposes to receive services; and other circumstances provided in Health Ministry guidelines.

On March 8, the Health Minister said people driving private vehicles by themselves or with their families did not need to wear masks. He said the definition of "family" would be left up to the police service.

The regulations also cover vessels in air and sea ports, covid19 testing in private medical facilities and the obligation to report positive cases, procedures for quarantine and home self-isolation, and the penalties for breaches of the regulations.

On Monday, 227 new covid19 cases were detected, with the total number of active cases being 9,233. There were 183 people in hospital and 9,025 people in home self-isolation.