Mask wearing is mandatory only in crowded public settings whether indoor or outdoor, but not in open spaces where safe physical distancing between persons can be maintained.
Fiji’s Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong said masks must be worn in crowded places such as markets, shopping malls and bus stands.
“So that means if people walk around in an open space and they’re maintaining good physical distance from each other, they don’t need mask,” Dr Fong said.
Nevertheless, Dr Fong says it is good practice to keep a mask on hand even when out in spacious areas because of the possibility of passing or encountering groups of people at which time it would be advisable to wear one’s mask.
“Say if I go down and walk along the road, I don’t need a mask, but …I keep a mask with me, as soon as I pass a group of people that are standing close to each other, I just slip the mask on, walk past them, then I take it off again.
“And that needs to be the habit that we all get. You walk with your mask. You judge the situation when you put on the mask and you judge the situation when you take off the mask. And if the Fiji gets very proficient in that type of behavior, when we get the third wave, it will be a small wave not a tidal wave.”
