Video: Prague Mayor hands out respirators and candy in city center

As Czech officials continue to urge compliance with the country's anti-COVID-19 measures including the requirement to wear a respirator in most locations, Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib took a little initiative of his own on his way home from work this weekend.

With a wicker basket filled with respirators and candy, Hřib toured the city center and rewarded those wearing a face mask. Those without got a mask got a respirator instead, while the Prague Mayor urged them to put it on.

"I said to myself that on my way home from work, I will observe how Praguers comply with government regulations regarding the wearing of respirators," Hřib says in video posted to social media.

"And we will do it through motivation. Those without a covered mouth and nose will receive a respirator from me, and those who follow everything will receive a sweet reward."

Some of those without a mask heeded Hřib's call to wear the respirator, while others refused.

Along the way, Hřib ran into Prague's Chief Hygienist Zdeňka Jágrová and praised her for wearing a respirator.

Since March 1, it has been mandatory to wear a respirator in all built-up urban areas (e.g., city streets and sidewalks), interior spaces except one's place of residence, and other outdoor spaces in the Czech Republic where a distance of two meters between people cannot be kept. Full details can be found here.

"I know that following government measures can be annoying. But let's endure it for a while," Hřib wrote on social media.

"We are not doing this for the government, but to protect ourselves and our loved ones, to relieve the congested hospitals and to allow us all to return as soon as possible to the normal life we ​​lack so much."