Los Angeles drops plans to reimpose indoor mask mandates

LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles County has dropped plans to reinstitute a Covid-19 mask mandate amid a falling number of cases and hospitalisations.

Health officials in the county, which has a population of 10 million people, had planned to make masks indoors mandatory from July 29, reports Xinhua news agency.

But with new cases and hospitalisations falling and the region set to move back into the "medium" community level of virus spread, officials said that they would hold off on taking action.

"We're on a decline right now," Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.

"We're glad to see this. It would be welcome relief if this current surge has peaked."

Based on available data, there is no need for a mandatory masking measure in the immediate future, she said.

"It's reasonable to assume that the recent decline we have seen in cases will lead to continued decreases in hospital admissions over the next couple of weeks," Ferrer said.

"Although there's no way to predict the future, the case and hospital admission status suggests that there's less transmission," she added.