Health minister Paulette Lenert during a press conference in May had said that the government would propose ending the mask mandate, which was enforced following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Even though infections rose 65% last week, to 1,934 new cases compared to 1,174 the week before, lawmakers said that the number of people in hospitals remains low.

Parliament in March had voted to abolish the mask mandate in most other places, such as restaurants, cinemas and other public venues. This came together with the end of the CovidCheck regime, which had means people could only get access to certain places or events if they could provide a vaccination, recovery or test certificate.

Masks will continue to be mandatory in hospitals, care homes and prison facilities.

The change will come into effect once the law is officially published, which should happen at the latest on Friday morning.

However, vulnerable individuals are recommended to keep wearing a mask and the law also specifies that it is not forbidden to wear a nose-mouth covering on public transport.

The government no longer publishes daily covid-19 statistics. A weekly report published on Thursday reported three deaths for the week of 30 May to 5 June. One person with covid-19 was being treated in intensive care, with three people newly admitted to a regular ward for complications from a coronavirus infection.