Sadiq Khan has urged the Government to keep compulsory face mask laws in place for public transport after Covid restrictions are lifted.
The Mayor of London said the capital needs to “get out” of plan B restrictions as soon possible to help save businesses but people should continue to wear face coverings, particularly on TfL services.
Mr Khan argued that masks would help “increase public confidence” on public transport even as infection rates plunge .
“What I’ll be saying to the Government is if the data is right let’s get out of plan B,” he told Sky News.
“We desperately need to have people coming back to the offices supporting our economy. But I’d encourage the Government to keep compulsory facemasks in, particularly on public transport.
“One is it reduces the chances of transmission, we know we can have this virus without knowing we’ve got it.
“The second is it increases public confidence and the more compliance we have, the more confidence the public has, the more likely they are going to use public transport and come back to our city centres.”
Covid cases have plunged by up to 54 per cent in some London boroughs, official figures have revealed, and business leaders and MPs have called for working from home guidance to be ditched as quickly as possible.
Confirmed infections were down in all boroughs by at least a quarter in the seven days to January 12.
Hospital admissions of coronavirus patients have also dropped, raising hopes the Omicron surge is now at an end.
Mr Khan added: “The good news in London [is] the number of people testing positive has gone down, the case rates gone down, hospital admissions are going down. Those on ventilators is going down.
“This time last year there were more than double the people in hospitals, more than five times on ventilators.”
