Durban – A passenger who refused to wear a face mask on a flight from OR Tambo International Airport to Durban was removed from the plane.
The FlySafair had left the gate on Saturday and was ready for take-off when the incident occurred.
Kirby Gordon, the chief marketing officer of FlySafair, said the passenger refused to wear a mask and the flight had to be turned around before take-off.
The passenger boarded the plane wearing a mask and then once the plane was on the runway he took it off and refused to put it back on.
He said once the flight had returned to the gate the passenger was escorted off the flight by the SAPS.
“The same would happen if any other safety regulations or laws are broken on an aircraft,” said Gordon.
Gordon said the requirement to wear a mask is a national law and a Civil Aviation regulation.
“The failure to wear a mask is treated as a safety concern to all passengers and is managed in the same manner that any other safety concern would be,” he said.
He said people should wear masks in any public space to limit the potential spread of Covid-19.
According to government regulations, a cloth mask which covers the nose and mouth must be worn in public.
Last week, The Mercury reported the second wave of Covid-19 infections in South Africa is inevitable after super-spreader events were reported at a bar in Cape Town and at Fort Hare University in the Eastern Cape.
This resulted in a combined number of over 100 people being infected.
The warning was issued by Professor Salim Abdool Karim, chairperson of the ministerial advisory committee on Covid-19. Abdool Karim said with the easing of lockdown regulations to level 1, people had become complacent, and were tired of wearing masks and social distancing.
He said it took just one infected person to create a super-spreader event.
“We need to get people to change their behaviour,” warned Abdool Karim.
As at October 24, the Health Department had recorded 714 246 Covid-19 cases, with 1 834 new cases identified since the last report, while 18 944 people had died.
The total number of Covid-19 cases were sitting at 703 793 when Abdool Karim warned that South Africa could soon be joining more than 60 countries, including the UK, US, South Korea and Spain, that have experienced a second wave.
The SAPS said a case was not opened and the Airports Company South Africa in Gauteng referred The Mercury to the airline for comment.
The Mercury