ＥＵ、機内・空港でマスク義務解除へ　仏交通機関でも不要に

【ベルリンＡＦＰ＝時事】欧州航空安全局（ＥＡＳＡ）は１１日、欧州連合（ＥＵ）域内で新型コロナウイルスの感染防止対策として導入していた航空機内と空港でのマスク着用義務を１６日から解除すると発表した。（写真は資料写真）
　ＥＡＳＡの決定は、欧州疾病予防管理センター（ＥＣＤＣ）が新たに制定した指針に基づくもの。ただし、航空会社には乗客とスタッフに対しマスクの着用を要求する一定の余地があるとされた。
　欧州では新型コロナウイルス流行が収束傾向にあり、フランス政府も１１日、公共交通機関内でのマスク着用義務を１６日から解除すると発表。オリビエ・ベラン保健相は、今後も着用を推奨するものの、感染者数がここ最近で大幅に減っていることから、着用義務は「もはや適切ではない」と説明した。
　医療機関内では今後もマスク着用とワクチン接種の証明書が必要で、陽性になった人は少なくとも７日間の自己隔離が義務付けられる。保健省のデータによると、フランスでは国民の７９．３％が所定回数のワクチン接種を完了している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/05/12-13:01）

EU-wide guidance on requiring masks for air travel will be lifted from next week, the bloc's aviation safety agency said on Wednesday, as the pandemic eases in Europe.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said that under the new guidelines developed with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), masks were no longer considered essential for all flights and airports.
Nevertheless national regulators and airlines will still have scope to demand face and nose covering by passengers and staff, it noted.
From next week, face masks will no longer need to be mandatory in air travel in all cases, broadly aligning with the changing requirements of national authorities across Europe for public transport, said EASA executive director Patrick Ky in a statement.
For passengers and air crews, this is a big step forward in the normalisation of air travel.
Despite the new guidance, Germany as the EU's most populous country and top economy said it had no plans to lift the mask mandate for flights.
The mask requirement on airplanes continues to be in place for all domestic routes as well as on flights that take off or land in Germany, health ministry spokesman Hanno Kautz said in an emailed statement.
- 'No globally consistent approach' -
EASA said after Monday, rules for masks in particular will continue to vary by airline beyond that date.
It stated that flights to or from a destination where mask-wearing is still required on public transport should continue to encourage mask wearing.
Vulnerable passengers with compromised health should continue to wear a face mask regardless of the rules, it added.
The EASA said passengers were also encouraged to observe social distancing at the airport but that operators should adopt a pragmatic approach, meaning avoiding measures that would lead to a bottleneck in another location in the passenger journey.
The Geneva-based International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomed the new guidance for the EU but acknowledged the picture was more complex in an international context.
Although the European protocol comes into effect next week, there is no globally consistent approach to mask-wearing on board aircraft, said Willie Walsh, IATA's director general, in a statement.
Airlines must comply with the regulations applicable to the routes they are operating. The aircraft crew will know what rules apply and it is critical that passengers follow their instructions.
He added that the IATA asked all passengers to be respectful of other people's decision to voluntarily wear masks even if it not a requirement.
The European aviation sector has predicted a return to near pre-pandemic traffic levels this summer despite soaring fuel prices, the war in Ukraine and inflation.