Following a report in Business Insider South Africa (quickly picked up by South Africa’s consumer press), a controversy has erupted over a regulation that stated that passengers from South Africa, Zambia and Mozambique were being singled out to wear more protective equipment than passengers from elsewhere.

The furore arose because journalist, Carlien du Plessis tweeted a pic of herself wearing the transparent visor and mask on board a Qatar Airways flight on February 15 – she said it was mandatory for all the passengers on board the flight to wear both, and a crew member had told her it was “for her own safety”.

Yet, the airline’s PR company, responding to Tourism Update’s questions about the controversy, on Saturday, February 19, issued this statement: “Qatar Airways confirms that face-shields are not mandatory on board any of our flights. Face shields were required as a short-term, precautionary measure that is no longer in operation. Passengers will still be required to wear face masks on all flights to ensure the continued safety of our passengers and crew.”

Despite this, on checking the airline’s rules on its website at 11h20 on Saturday (February 19), Tourism Update found that the airline was still displaying this regulation under its safety section. The website clearly states that passengers on flights from these three countries are obliged to wear not only a face-mask but a clear visor as well.