BERLIN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Although German citizens are generally not required to wear a protective mask, the wearing of a mouth-nose cover at work became compulsory in the central city of Jena, which is known for the Optical Museum, on Tuesday.
With this measure, Jena, which is the first German city to make the wearing of face masks compulsory for its citizens in public buildings and public transport, further tightened its face mask regulations during the coronavirus crisis.
As of Tuesday, a mouth-nose cover had to be worn at work if there was more than one person in a room, if there are less than 20 square meters available for one person in an office used by several people and if the minimum distance of 1.5 meters cannot be maintained, according to the rules.
In order to supply the population with enough face masks, Jena already asked citizens at the end of March to sew mouth and nose protection for themselves as well as for other people. Scarves or shawls were also accepted as protection if they cover nose and mouth.
In a national comparison, Jena is not particularly affected by the coronavirus. On Monday, Jena had recorded no new COVID-19 cases and the number of infected remained at 155, according to the city.
Jena appealed to the "joint responsibility" of its citizens, which had to be adhered to in the days and weeks to come. This would also include restricting private contacts, wearing mouth and nose covers as well as observing the rules of hygiene.
