Colombia will not require face masks outdoors in areas with 70% COVID vaccination

FILE PHOTO: People wearing face masks walk down a street before the start of a mandatory total isolation decreed by the mayor's office, amidst an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Bogota, Colombia January 7, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez/File Photo

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's government will no longer require the use of face masks outdoors in areas where more than 70% of the population has been vaccinated against COVID-19, President Ivan Duque said on Wednesday.

The move is a further softening of measures adopted by the country to curb the spread of the coronavirus, as well as an incentive for people to get vaccinated.