MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguay's Lower House passes bill to scrap masks and vax cards

People who wish to continue wearing facemasks for personal safety will not be forced to remove them.

Paraguay's House of Deputies Wednesday passed a bill to repeal the law mandating the use of facemasks and also provided for the termination of the COVID-19 vaccination pass requirement. The initiative is now up to the Senate.

Law 6699/20 had been approved in the midst of the coronavirus emergency in Paraguay. Health certificates are currently required to attend certain events and also to enter the country.

The law establishes the mandatory use of masks in outdoor and indoor settings both public and private, as well as in land, air, and fluvial means of transportation. These provisions are mandatory for people over 10 years of age.

Deputy Jorge Brítez submitted the bill last year and it was approved Wednesday by the plenum.

Lawmaker Hugo Ramírez also asked to hear the opinion of the Ministry of Health, which is said not to support the initiative.

If passed, the repeal does not imply that people who wish to continue wearing facemasks for personal safety will be forced to stop doing so, it was explained.

“The use of masks, at present, considering the massive vaccination; the excessive heat; and the considerable decrease of cases of contagion, with practically no deaths of people due to the virus, leads to the analysis of the validity of the mandatory use of masks”, Brítez said.