This was decided by the Prague government on Wednesday. Corona passports will no longer be required for visits to restaurants, hotels, cultural or sporting events from Thursday. However, the certificate system as such will remain in place – for trips abroad or in the event that a dangerous corona wave comes again in the future, it said. A week ago, the Supreme Administrative Court overturned the order of the Ministry of Health, which only allowed entry into restaurants and hotels to people who were fully vaccinated or had recovered. The judgment will become final on Thursday. However, the government claims that it planned to abolish the corona passports anyway and that the court’s verdict “only hastened” its decision.
Other restrictions will initially remain in force or will only be relaxed later. Masks are still compulsory indoors and on public transport. A maximum of 1,000 seated or 100 standing people can continue to participate in mass events. From February 18, these limits will be further increased. Comprehensive testing in schools and companies should also end on February 18th.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala said at a press conference after the government meeting that after March 1 “few restrictions, practically only the mask requirement” should apply. However, neither Fiala nor Minister of Health Vlastimil Valek said whether or to what extent the easing would also affect the entry requirements for the Czech Republic. The Ministry of Health had previously announced that the previous rules should initially remain in force. Foreign tourists must therefore continue to present negative PCR tests if they are not also vaccinated with the so-called “booster”. Completely unvaccinated people must undergo a second test five to seven days after entry.
The government decided to relax at a time when the number of infections in the 10.7 million neighboring country is still high. 44,301 new cases of infection were reported for yesterday, Tuesday. However, the utilization of hospitals with corona patients is much lower than in previous corona waves. Meanwhile, the experts see a turnaround and the reverse trend of the pandemic.
Source: Nachrichten
