LISBON, APRIL 1: The Portuguese Parliament has approved the renewal of the mandatory use of masks in public spaces until June 13 to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

Under the approved/upgraded bill, anyone refusing to wear a mask in public spaces will be imposed for a fine of between 100 euros (117 dollar) and 500 euros (586 Dollar).

As reported by the Xinhua news, ‘the maintenance of the situation of public calamity due to the existing pandemic, which has determined the successive renewals of the state of emergency, strongly discourages the relaxation of the adopted measures,"

According to the World Health Organization, face masks should be used as part of a comprehensive strategy of measures to suppress Covid-19 transmission and save lives.

Meanwhile, Portugal recorded three deaths and 618 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the national tallies to 16,848 and 821,722, respectively.

World Corona Updates: Meanwhile, the WHO reported that 177 countries and regions have started vaccinating, some of them through the COVAX Facility, an international initiative co-led by the WHO and its partners to ensure equitable global access to vaccines. The overall number of global Covid-19 cases has surpassed 128.7 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 2.81 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Thursday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 128,791,500 and 2,814,899, respectively.

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