Masks are no longer needed in hospitals or healthcare settings. The final restriction of the covid-19 pandemic is being lifted from today.
Patients, staff and visitors to hospitals no longer need to wear a face covering, however the Health Protection Surveillance Centre is still advising them where a patient has covid-like symptoms.
Infectious disease specialist, Professor Sam McConkey says masks are still important in certain circumstances.
"We should come out of the Covid-19, two and a half year experience with an enhanced sense of what I would call a respiratory etiquette. If we're sick and coughing and wearing a mask makes sense, it's not really about Covid-19 because that particular phenomena is essentially disappeared, but there is wisdom in wearing a mask," he said.
