Czech PM Andrej Babiš calls on Donald Trump to make face masks obligatory

Prague, March 29 (CTK) – Prime Minister Andrej Babiš called on his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump on Twitter today to get inspired by the Czech Republic and introduce the obligatory wearing of face masks in public to help curb the current coronavirus pandemic.

Babiš sent a video recording calling on people to wear face masks to most European presidents and prime ministers.

However, opposition Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) chairman Marian Jurecka criticised Babis (ANO) for this step, pointing out that the PM had not made effort to push for wearing face masks.

“Mr. President, try tackling virus the Czech way. Wearing a simple cloth mask, decreases the spread of the virus by 80 percent! The Czech Republic has made it OBLIGATORY for its citizens to wear a mask in the public,” Babiš tweeted to Trump.

At the same time, Babiš sent a video spot with the slogan Masks4All explaining the reasons why to cover mouth and nose to Trump. The spot calls on all to spread the video to other countries where people do not use face masks as protection against the coronavirus pandemic.

Babiš later congratulated the authors on the spot and said he had sent it to most prime ministers and presidents in Europe.

Jurecka reacted to Babiš’s tweet, saying the PM is making fun of people. “He claimed in public two weeks ago that face masks were useless, that they did not protect you. Then he expressed surprise at why someone was sewing face masks here and now this! Mr Prime Minister, you have not at the slightest contributed to what you are boasting about,” Jurecka tweeted.

The government imposed the duty to wear a face masks or other mouth and nose covers in public in the middle of last week. Previously, some politicians and institutions started calling on people to wear face masks. Due to the shortage of professional ones, people started making them at home.

According to experts, a face mask does not protect the person wearing it from the infection, but it protects his/her surrounding. This is why people are wearing masks under the slogan “my face mask protects you, your mask protects me.”