Danish officials said they were now recommending the use of face masks on public transport to curb the spread of Covid-19, just days after saying they did not “make sense in the current situation", AFP reports.

The Danish Health Authority said that maintaining social distance and washing hands would continue to be important but as more people returned to public transport as society opened up, it “could make it harder to keep distance".

“Therefore, we now recommend that you take a mouth cover with you in your bag in those situations, and put it on if it is difficult to keep your distance,” Soren Brostrom, director of the Danish Health Authority, said in a statement.