Coronavirus in Czechia: Face Masks Mandatory in Schools and Restrictions on Travelling from the Country

On September 18, the number of people newly infected with coronavirus already exceeded 3 000 new cases per day. The Czech government has been recently reintroducing some countermeasures as a response to the alarming spread of the virus. There is a possibility that even more restrictive countermeasures will be put in place in the near future. Besides that, several countries marked the Czech Republic as a non-safe country.

New Countermeasures

The government is gradually tightening the precautions against the virus’ rapid spread, despite previously promising that this would not happen and that the epidemiological situation was completely under control. For example, as of September 18 wearing face masks is mandatory in all indoor spaces of schools with the exception of the first five grades at elementary schools. This means that students have to wear face masks even during their classes. It was also recently announced that as of September 21, all universities (and possibly also high schools) in Prague will switch to distance learning due to the epidemiological situation getting worse rapidly.

 

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From September 19 restaurants, bars, clubs and pubs all across the country will have to be closed from midnight to 6:00 AM. Indoor events with attendance over 10 can only take place if there are enough seats available for each one of them. The capacity of seats can’t be surpassed. The number of people attending outdoor events must not cross the number of 1 000 people, indoor events can only take place if there are less than 500 people at once. 

From September 21, wearing face masks will be mandatory even during outdoor events in six regions: Prague, Central Bohemian region, Kroměříž region, Zlín region, Uherské Hradiště region and Cheb region.

There is also a chance that even more countermeasures will be reintroduced and the existing ones will tighten. This was announced by the Czech Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch.

quarantine
Since the situation is getting worse, there is a chance the government will take more steps to slow the spread of the virus.

Restrictions on Travelling

Due to the epidemiological situation in the Czech Republic getting worse, several countries have already imposed restrictions on travelling either to Prague, where the situation is particularly dire, or the whole country.

For example, Belgium marked the whole Czech Republic orange on their coronavirus map with the exception of Prague which is now considered unsafe by Belgium. That means that all people travelling from Prague will have to produce a negative test for COVID-19, for the rest of the country it is just recommended.

Denmark marked the Czech Republic orange on their coronavirus map and so people travelling to Denmark from the Czech Republic purely for tourism won’t be allowed to enter the country. Similarly to Denmark, inhabitants of the Czech Republic cannot enter Finland without having a good reason for doing so. 

On the other hand, Hungary closed its borders for everyone and foreign citizens can enter the country only if at least one of the exceptions applies to them.

 

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Germany placed only Prague and the Central Bohemian Region on the list of high-risk countries which means that everyone arriving from these places will either have to produce a negative test for COVID-19 or undergo the mandatory 14-days long quarantine.

Slovakia put restrictions on travelling from the Czech Republic as well. As of September 18, it is, therefore, necessary for people travelling from the Czech Republic have to electronically register themselves and either undergo the 14-days long quarantine or produce a negative test.

People travelling from the Czech Republic to the Netherlands or Latvia will have to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine even if they don’t have any symptoms of COVID-19 and their test results are negative.

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Another country that imposed restrictions on travelling from the Czech Republic, is Cyprus. This means that as of September 18, all people who are coming to Cyprus for tourism and visited the Czech Republic in the last 14 days aren’t allowed to enter the country.

People travelling from the Czech Republic to Norway, Switzerland, Slovenia or Estonia will have to undergo mandatory quarantine.

When travelling to Malta or Lithuania it is necessary to either produce a negative test or undergo mandatory quarantine. In both countries, it is also required to fill out a form upon arrival.

Filling out forms is also required when travelling to the UK or Ireland. When visiting Ireland it is also necessary to undergo mandatory quarantine.

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.

If you don’t want to miss out on any important news, subscribe to our special autumn newsletter mapping not only the current coronavirus situation, and don’t forget to check this blog.

Sources of the information: SeznamZprávy.cz, Novinky.cz article Iarticle II and article III

Source of the image: Pixabay.com

Anna Minjaríková

Hello, readers! My job is to provide you with some interesting tips and useful information about all the things Czech. ♫ I'll be there for you! ♫

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