On Monday, October 5, a state of emergency will come into force. The state of emergency was declared on September 30 by the Czech government and together with that, new restrictions will be introduced, but as announced by the Minister of Health, Roman Prymula, they won’t include the closing of borders. He, however, admitted that other countries may impose restrictions on travelling from and to the Czech Republic.
What Will the State of Emergency Bring?
Since the daily increments of new coronavirus cases remain high, on Thursday, September 30 the Czech government approved the state of emergency which will come into effect on Monday, October 5. The decision to declare the state of emergency was preceded by a long meeting in the Chamber of Deputies.
Together with the state of emergency, some countermeasures will be introduced on October 5. Most of them will be in place for two weeks and will be only extended, should the epidemiological situation remain the same.
This means that as of October 5, indoor events with over 10 participants will be prohibited, the same applies to outdoor events with over 20 participants. The only exceptions will be households, work or employment. Restrictions will also apply to the number of people sharing one table at restaurants and other catering facilities as only six people at most will be allowed to sit at one table.
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Theatres will remain open, but only plays will be allowed – opera performances and musicals will be banned. Snack breaks in theatres will be banned as well because of the higher risk of the transmission of the coronavirus. On the other hand, sports events will be allowed to take place only without the presence of spectators.
Secondary schools in districts marked orange or red on the local coronavirus map will be closed for two weeks. It was also decided that at elementary schools and schools in low-risk districts, singing and PE will be banned for the same period of time.
The number of people attending church ceremonies will be limited to 100 and singing won’t be allowed. As of October 19, only up to 30 people will be allowed to attend weddings and funerals.
No restrictions on travelling were introduced, but according to the Minister of Health, it is possible that other countries will impose restrictions on travelling to and from the Czech Republic. The Minister of Health also recommended limiting visits to retirement homes.
The Current Situation
In the last couple of weeks, the number of new COVID-19 cases was between 2 000 and 3 000 infected people per day with the exception of weekends and holidays (September 28) when the number was lower. Only on October 1, the daily increase was slightly over 1 000 new cases which, however, later turned out to be an error. This error was eventually fixed.
At the same time, the Czech Republic has been experiencing an uptick in the number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. During September the number of hospitalized people in serious condition increased fivefold.
Similarly to the Czech Republic, neighbouring Slovakia has been recently experiencing continuous increases in new cases as well. The country also declared a state of emergency on September 30 which came into force immediately. Slovakia is one of those countries that had previously imposed restrictions on travelling from the Czech Republic in order to prevent the rapid spread of the virus. Many experts, however, predict that due to weather changes, the number of infected people will continue to increase.
On October 1, the Minister of the Interior announced that police will help public hygiene offices with tracking new cases and their contacts.
Let us know and get your residence permit as soon as possible to be safe in the future in case the pandemic indeed returns in full force. 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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Sources of the information: SeznamZprávy.cz, Aktuálně.cz article I and article II
Source of the image: Pexels.com
