{"id":20653,"date":"2020-06-15T08:58:24","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T06:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/?p=20653"},"modified":"2020-07-20T09:10:54","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T07:10:54","slug":"coronavirus-in-czechia-the-traffic-light-system-updated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/coronavirus-in-czechia-the-traffic-light-system-updated\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus in Czechia: The &#8220;Traffic Light System&#8221; Updated"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>While the <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/coronavirus-in-czechia-prognosis-and-predictions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>coronavirus<\/b><\/a><b> has not yet fully disappeared, European governments are already releasing most of the restrictions previously put in place to stop the disease from spreading rapidly and minimize the pandemic impact. <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/most-of-czechs-are-normal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Life in the Czech Republic<\/b><\/a><b> has mostly returned to normal, however, there are still some changes that have to be made for the situation to be the same as it was before the pandemic.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h3><b>The \u201cTraffic Light System\u201d updated<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>On June 1 the Czech government introduced the so-called \u201c<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/coronavirus-in-czechia-borders-reopening\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Traffic Light System<\/b><\/a><b>\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which divides the EU countries into three different groups <\/span><b>based on the level of risk of getting infected with the COVID-19 in these European countries<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">countries marked<\/span><b> green are safe<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with a low risk of getting infected;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">traveling to countries marked <\/span><b>orange<\/b> <b>is not recommended<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">countries marked<\/span><b> red are considered unsafe<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with a high risk of getting infected.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How exactly does this work? <\/span><b>As of June 15 traveling to countries marked green is allowed with no restrictions.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It won\u2019t be required to give the reason for entering the country which means that traveling for the purpose of a vacation will be allowed as well. <\/span><b>Neither Czechs nor citizens of these countries have to produce a negative test for COVID-19 or undergo the <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/better-days-are-yet-to-come\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>mandatory 14-days long quarantine<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> upon their arrival to the Czech Republic from these countries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Citizens of EU+ countries marked as red or orange continue to be bound by restrictions issued by the Ministry of Health<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (for example tourists from these countries aren&#8217;t allowed to enter the Czech Republic). <\/span><b>In order to be allowed into the Czech Republic, foreigners still need to give a reason for entering<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, such as studying or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreigners.cz\/job-search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>working<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Czechia. <\/span><b>All details regarding this can be found on the <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/koronavirus.mzcr.cz\/en\/from-15-june-eu-citizens-returning-from-countries-with-a-low-to-moderate-risk-of-coronavirus-contagion-can-travel-to-the-czech-republic-without-a-test\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Ministry of Health\u2019s webpage<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also necessary to <\/span><b>keep in mind that <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/czech-center-new-york-public-diplomacy-online\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>other countries<\/b><\/a><b> have their own set of rules and restrictions regarding traveling<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and these rules <\/span><b>must be still followed<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The same thing applies vice versa:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for example, Sweden allows people to enter and leave the country with no restrictions but according to the Czech government it is a country with a high risk of getting infected and so when traveling from Sweden to the Czech Republic it is still necessary to produce a negative test for COVID-19 or undergo the mandatory 14-days long quarantine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When traveling, remember, please, that <\/span><b>citizenship or <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreigners.cz\/residence-permit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>residence permits<\/b><\/a><b> can also make a difference when it comes to being or not being allowed to cross the countries\u2019 borders<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All the necessary information regarding the immigration process can be found on the <\/span><b>Czech Ministry of the Interior\u2019s webpage<\/b> (<em>UPDATE, July 20: The document was removed from the Ministry\u2019s website)<\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On June 12 the <\/span><b>Czech government introduced its updated version<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Compared to the original <\/span><b>Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, and Spain are considered safe<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. On the other hand, <\/span><b>Portugal and the Silesian Voivodeship are newly perceived as high-risk<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as opposed to the <\/span><b>UK which is now considered only medium-risk<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20654\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20654\" style=\"width: 520px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-20654 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mapa-seznamu-evropskych-zemi-podle-miry-rizika-nakazy-12062020-final-520x337.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"520\" height=\"337\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mapa-seznamu-evropskych-zemi-podle-miry-rizika-nakazy-12062020-final-520x337.jpg 520w, https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mapa-seznamu-evropskych-zemi-podle-miry-rizika-nakazy-12062020-final-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mapa-seznamu-evropskych-zemi-podle-miry-rizika-nakazy-12062020-final-768x497.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mapa-seznamu-evropskych-zemi-podle-miry-rizika-nakazy-12062020-final-1536x995.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mapa-seznamu-evropskych-zemi-podle-miry-rizika-nakazy-12062020-final.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20654\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">On June 1 the Czech government introduced the so-called \u201cTraffic Light System\u201d, which divides the EU countries into three different groups.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The \u201cTraffic Light System\u201d will be updated depending on the situation.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Traveling to Slovakia and other neighboring countries<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>The border between the Czech Republic and Slovakia was reopened on Thursday, June 4. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Citizens of these two countries, as well as EU citizens with a permanent or long term residence permit in the Czech Republic or Slovakia, are free to cross the border with no restrictions. This means that <\/span><b>it is not required to produce any documents when entering these countries, nor is it necessary to produce a negative test for the COVID-19 upon return <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">or to<\/span><b> undergo the mandatory quarantine.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Traveling to Austria and Hungary is possible from June 5 and the Polish border was reopened on Saturday, June 13.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The only problem here is the <\/span><b>Silesian Voivodeship, which is still considered high-risk<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, as the number of newly infected people is still growing rapidly, and borders with Czech Silesia and the North Moravian region.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As for <\/span><b>Germany<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the border controls have been eased and <\/span><b>Czech citizens can return from this country<\/b> <b>without submitting a negative test for COVID-19<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Entering Germany <\/span><b>is possible for all EU citizens from June 15<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Face masks no longer mandatory outdoors<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another, albeit, not so significant change was announced on June 12 and concerns the mandatory <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/coronavirus-motto-my-face-mask-protects-you-yours-protects-me\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>wearing of face masks.<\/b><\/a> <b>As of June 15, it won\u2019t be mandatory to wear them outdoors even if there are other people present nearby<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (more specifically two meters far from each other).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This change, however, <\/span><b>doesn\u2019t include public events<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (such as protests) during which the wearing of face masks will still be mandatory until announced otherwise. <\/span><b>This also applies to buildings and public transport where they remain mandatory<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as announced by the Minister of Health, Adam Vojt\u011bch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>From June 15, it is also possible to organize events for 2 500 people<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in areas with structurally separate sectors, such as sports stadiums. Each sector can accommodate a maximum of 500 participants and must have its own entrance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Social distancing at the hairdressers&#8217; is also lifted, some water attractions are reopened and people will also be able to buy snacks at markets, theaters, and cinemas.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you don\u2019t want to miss out on any important news, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreigners.cz\/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>subscribe to our newsletter<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> mapping the current coronavirus situation, and don\u2019t forget to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>check this blog<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. To stay updated, you can also follow us on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Foreigners.cz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Facebook<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, where we live-stream on immigration topics on a regular basis, and on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cz.foreigners\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Instagram<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreigners.cz\/contact\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Let us know<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreigners.cz\/residence-permit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>get your residence permit<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as soon as possible to be safe in the future in case the pandemic returns &#8211; having a residence permit is the best way of making sure you\u2019ll be able to return to the Czech Republic even if the borders are closed again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Sources:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Novinky.cz <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.novinky.cz\/koronavirus\/clanek\/aktualizovany-semafor-povinny-test-u-cest-ze-svedska-portugalska-a-casti-polska-40327465#seq_no=1&amp;source=hp&amp;dop_ab_variant=298110&amp;dop_req_id=ge1OHgmMqTz-202006121925&amp;dop_source_zone_name=novinky.sznhp.box&amp;utm_source=www.seznam.cz&amp;utm_medium=z-boxiku&amp;utm_campaign=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">article I<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.novinky.cz\/domaci\/clanek\/dalsi-uvolneni-od-pondeli-40327458#seq_no=1&amp;source=hp&amp;dop_ab_variant=298110&amp;dop_req_id=bm4JSUU4WNh-202006121707&amp;dop_source_zone_name=novinky.sznhp.box&amp;utm_source=www.seznam.cz&amp;utm_medium=z-boxiku&amp;utm_campaign=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">article II<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic<\/span> (<em>UPDATE, June 29: The document was removed from the Ministry\u2019s website)<\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mvcr.cz\/clanek\/moznost-cestovani-do-cr-pro-obcany-vybranych-statu-eu-a-cizince-s-priznanym-postavenim-dlouhodobe-pobyvajiciho-rezidenta-od-15-cervna-2020.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seznamzpravy.cz\/clanek\/co-se-meni-od-pondeli-jinak-je-to-s-rouskami-v-kinech-i-na-hranicich-109035#seq_no=2&amp;source=hp&amp;dop_ab_variant=298110&amp;dop_req_id=DGfgIrGGqaG-202006141252&amp;dop_source_zone_name=zpravy.sznhp.box&amp;utm_source=www.seznam.cz&amp;utm_medium=z-boxiku&amp;utm_campaign=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seznamzpravy.cz<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Sources of pictures:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic <em>(UPDATE, July 15: The document was removed from the Ministry&#8217;s website)<\/em><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pexels.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the coronavirus has not yet fully disappeared, European governments are already releasing most of the restrictions previously put in place to stop the disease from spreading rapidly and minimize the pandemic impact. Life in the Czech Republic has mostly returned to normal, however, there are still some changes that have to be made for the situation to be the same as it was before the pandemic.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":20659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1098,194,12,1487,19,1486],"tags":[1568,22,1602,580,80,386,94],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20653"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20653"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21054,"href":"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20653\/revisions\/21054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.foreigners.cz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}