Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia announced on Wednesday that masks are now compulsory in healthcare settings across the country due to a spike in viral infections.
"The flu especially has seen a sharp spike in recent weeks and it is causing tension in hospitals and healthcare clinics," she told a press conference, adding that mandates protect vulnerable populations as well as healthcare workers.
Already around one-third of Spanish regions have implemented local mask mandates, most of which came into effect this week or last.
However, other regional governments, particularly those run by the conservative Popular Party, have expressed their opposition to the top-down measure.
"What isn't right is that the minister had her vacations over Christmas and then, by the time this week comes around, now she wants to impose masks," said Fernando Lopez Miras, president of Murcia, calling the measure "bad and late."
Madrid President Isabel Diaz Ayuso also slammed the "imposition," posting on X that it was "improvised" and a sign of "weak management."
The government's proposal was originally shut down by regional governments on Monday.
Two days after receiving proposals for governments around the country, Garcia said masks will be mandatory in all healthcare settings unless regions can prove that the level of infections has been declining for at least two weeks.
In pharmacies, masks will be recommended but not obligatory.
Many experts have predicted that flu and viral infections will reach their peak in Spain in the days or weeks to come. That is because students have just returned to school this week, which may be the final push toward spreading viruses after Spain's long Christmas season, which only ended with Three Kings Day last weekend.
Several Spanish medical associations have already complained that emergency services and primary care were being overloaded due to a lack of resources and a major spike in viral infections.
Pascual Pinera, vice president of Spain's emergency medicine society (SEMES), told EFE last week that there were 35% more patients in Spanish emergency rooms this season than last.
