On 11 June President Serdar Berdymukhammedov instructed Deputy Prime Minister overseeing science, education, healthcare and sport Sapardurdy Toilyev to inform residents through media outlets newspapers and television when and where masks must be worn and when masks are no longer required.
Correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” report that later that day police vehicles were patrolling Ashgabat to inform residents that wearing masks outside was no longer required.
“Take off masks on the street but wear them in public transport”, – police officers announced.
Fines for not wearing masks outside are no longer imposed on Ashgabat residents.Bus and taxi drivers wear masks; some passengers also wear face coverings while others do not.
According to correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan”, up to half passengers in buses do not wear masks and bus drivers do not admonish them.The situation is similar with taxi passengers.
Apart from the requirement to wear masks, restrictions still remain on the number of passengers in city buses there should be no more passengers than the number of seats, i.e. standing passengers are not allowed.
Drivers are not strictly following this requirement. It is important to make sure there are no standing passengers (who can be seen from the inside window) but squatting is permitted.
The official decision to lift the mask mandate outside was announced by the Turkmen authorities in early May. However, it was not officially published anywhere and residents were not informed.
Many Ashgabat residents are still wearing masks because they fear fines or are not aware of the easing of the mask mandate.
The official reason for allegedly introducing the mask mandate was due to hazardous dust particles in the air.
It has not been reported whether this hazard has disappeared.The authorities of Turkmenistan have still not confirmed any COVID-19 cases in its territory.The post Ashgabat police officers make loud speaker announcements through that wearing masks outside is no longer required first appeared on Chronicles of Turkmenistan.