Interim Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski announced that the Government has decreed the wearing of face masks in all public spaces. Additionally, citizens are ordered to maintain a distance of two meters from one another.

The move comes as the evening curfew was reduced by three hours, giving citizens more time to spend outside. In exchange, all citizens will have to wear masks or scarves while in closed public spaces. This will include offices, supermarkets, banks… Masks will also be mandatory in farmers’ markets and in other open air spaces where there is no room to keep a distance of two meters.

Mandatory wearing of masks was already introduced in three cities today – Prilep, Kumanovo and Tetovo – and starting tomorrow it will apply to the entire country. In Prilep, most of the citizens seen today in the downtown were wearing masks. Town hall distributed 15.000 masks, including to citizens who were waiting in line in front the banks and the supermarkets. Several textile companies in Prilep have retooled and produced 70.000 masks so far.