Even though the Czech Republic has seen a significant spike in new cases of people infected with COVID-19 in the last couple of days, some new changes have been recently announced by the Czech government and media. They are related mainly to the so-called “coronavirus traffic light system”, wearing face masks and traveling from and to non-EU countries.
Another update of the “coronavirus traffic light system”
The so-called “coronavirus traffic light system” was updated twice in the last couple of days as Belgium, Portugal and the UK were added on the list of safe countries. This means that it is now possible to travel to and from these two countries which applies to both, Czech citizens and citizens of these countries. This makes Sweden the only unsafe country.
From July 1, eight non-EU countries are considered safe by the Czech government, namely Montenegro, Serbia, Thailand, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea. However, so far only Serbia and Montenegro have reopened borders without restrictions for the citizens of the Czech Republic.
Several countries whose citizens cannot enter the EU
While the member states of the EU are already reopening their borders, not everyone will enjoy this positive change. Citizens of those countries that are deemed unsafe still won’t be allowed to enter the EU unless they qualify for an exception. This applies for example to the non-essential travelers from the USA, Russia, Brazil and so on, though it’s up to the individual EU countries to decide to what extent they’ll abide by the travel ban.
The list of exceptions includes for example:
- Healthcare professionals, health researchers, and elderly care professionals;
- Passengers travelling for imperative family reasons;
- Third-country nationals travelling for the purpose of study;
- Highly qualified third-country workers if their employment is necessary from an
economic perspective and the work cannot be postponed or performed abroad.
The whole list is available here.
Eleven Czech embassies have resumed normal service
As of June 30, eleven Czech embassies have completely resumed accepting new visa and residence permit applications and restored all previously suspended proceedings. Namely the embassies in:
- Austria – Vienna
- Belgium – Brussels
- Bulgaria – Sofia
- Croatia – Zagreb
- Germany – Berlin
- Ireland – Dublin
- Poland – Warsaw
- Romania – Bucharest
- Slovakia – Bratislava
- Serbia – Belgrade
- United Kingdom – London
Everything else remains the same as presented in our previous article regarding this topic.
Wearing of face masks not mandatory anymore
Another important change concerns the wearing of face masks, which is lifted as of July 1 with the exception of medical and social facilities. This, however, doesn’t apply to Prague and the Moravian Silesian region where the number of newly infected people is still high.
Counter-measures in Prague:
- It is not mandatory to wear a face-mask in trams and buses, though the Transport Company of the Capital City of Prague recommends that people continue wearing them,
- Face masks remain mandatory on the subway,
- Wearing of face masks remains mandatory at indoor events with more than one hundred people, for example in theaters and cinemas.
Counter-measures in the Moravian Silesian region:
- Wearing of face-masks remains compulsory at indoor events with over one hundred visitors,
- Face-masks remain mandatory also for those people who work in body care services and have to be in contact closer than 1.5 meters from the client. They will be mandatory in hairdressing salons, for example,
- Cross-border workers in the region will also have to submit a negative test for COVID-19 to the employer every ten days.
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Even harsher counter-measures were introduced in the local pockets of the epidemic, which are: Karviná, Frýdek-Místek, Frýdlant nad Ostravicí, Jablunkov, Bohumín, Havířov, Orlová, Český Těšín, and Třinec. Inhabitants of these nine towns and cities must continue wearing face-masks on public transport and all indoor spaces with the exception of the indoor spaces of their residence. Catering facilities, including outdoor gardens, must be closed from 11 PM to 8 AM and selling is possible only through a window. The maximum number of people attending mass events has been limited to one hundred. This rule also applies to aquaparks.
It is also recommended that people from the regions most affected by the coronavirus wear face masks when travelling to other regions in the country.
Let us know and get your residence permit as soon as possible to be safe in the future in case the pandemic returns. Having a residence permit is the best way of making sure you’ll be able to return to the Czech Republic even if the borders are closed again.
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This article was updated on July 10.
Sources of the information: Novinky.cz article I and article II, seznamzpravy.cz article I and article II, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, EU Parliament, Die Welt
Source of the image: Unsplash.com
