MASK UP, UNLESS YOU’RE IN SWEDEN

FACE MASK RULES and etiquette vary from country to country and even city to city. While they are mandatory in all public spaces in some, others have adopted mask-free policies.

If you dream of wandering the streets in pre-COVID fashion during your travels, there is one destination that won’t blink an eyelid at your bare-faced ‘cheek’, with Sweden ( pictured) refusing to recommend the use of face masks, even on public transport. It’s a similar story in fellow Nordic countries Finland and Denmark, but at other end of the scale, if you are caught not wearing one in Sri Lanka (including outdoors), or flout social distancing rules, police will force you into a 14-day quarantine.

In Italy, one of Europe’s most COVID-hit nations, mask rules vary according to the time of day – it is only mandatory to wear one outside between 6pm and 6am and only “in proximity of locations and premises that are open to the public as well as in public spaces whose physical characteristics may facilitate the formation of gatherings of both spontaneous and/or occasional nature”. Go figure!