Jason S., Author at Prague Morning

On Saturday, a live broadcast from Prague Castle, filmed by Czech guides for viewers abroad, escalated into watching an agile man who decided to climb to the main entrance gate of the castle.

The man scaled the Gate of the Giants, which was guarded by soldiers, and jumped right into the courtyard.

“Why is the gate closed?” The man shouted before deciding to follow through with this stunt. Jan Pechač from the lucytours.com agency was giving a private virtual tour of the castle and recorded footage of the incident.

According to Pechač, the soldiers immediately urged him to get down. However, he decided to climb right up and approach them in the courtyard, where he was detained.

“It happened at a time when we were broadcasting for clients from Canada and doing an hour-long private virtual tour for them,” Jan Pechač told Blesk.cz.

TV Nova also obtained a statement from a spokesman for the Castle Guard named Jiří Havel. Havel confirmed that the incident did take place on Saturday shortly before half-past four in the afternoon.

“A middle-aged man approached the Giants’ Gate, who then began to climb the pillar to one of the statues. He was asked by the guards to stop. He did not respond to the calls and climbed up to the statue,” Havel described.

Four years in prison

“After spending some time at the statue, he jumped into the guarded 1st courtyard of Prague Castle. Here he was detained by a guard and summoned by a group of soldiers from the Castle Guard, “Havel added.

See how a man climbed the Giant’s Gate:

According to TV Nova, he even attempted to bite a soldier during the apprehension. The military police are also dealing with the case.

“The criminal service of the military police has initiated criminal proceedings on suspicion of committing the crime of violence against an official,” said military police spokeswoman Nikola Rimkevič Hájková.

The suspect may face four years in prison.

Home to the world’s first Pilsner, the Czech Republic is internationally known as having the highest beer consumption per capita, a title held for over 20 years.

As the pandemic has ravaged the tourism and gastronomy industries, beer purchases have also seen a sharp decline throughout the past year.

Recently released data from the Czech General Directorate of Customs revealed that beer consumption decreased by 13 liters per capita last year. This works out to the average Czech drinking about 129 liters of beer in 2020 falling by 14 percent from the pre-pandemic era.

This drastic decline in beer consumption can likely be attributed to the series of government-mandated closures during each wave of the pandemic since March of last year.

While alcohol consumption, in general, went up during 2020, much less beer was being purchased than usual as many were deprived of opportunities for draft beer and resorted to drinking at home. Kegs have always accounted for the majority of beer sales far outpacing the sale of bottles and cans.

With no mass gatherings for beer festivals, pubs and restaurants closing, and a compulsory lockdown in place, the demand for beer has steadily declined over the past year.

The findings from the GDC also noted that the pandemic forced many breweries to reduce and even suspend their production as demand had dropped off.

“A number of government security measures complicate not only the production process in domestic breweries but also, for example, logistics. Significantly smaller amounts of beer will reach not only the on-trade segment (gastronomy, ie inns, restaurants, bistros, clubs), but also hypermarkets, supermarkets, evenings, and the like, ie the off-trade segment, ” stated the GDC report.

As the country remains in lockdown and the government enacts a ban on public consumption of alcohol, we can expect to see beer sales fall even further.

Many pubs like Zlý Časy in Nusle have had to adapt to survive the closures and open a takeaway window, e-shop, and offer delivery options. These efforts, however, only produce a fraction of their previous sales.

While the GDC report on taxed beer in 2020 is a good indicator of beer sales, it is difficult to assess what the future of beer culture in the Czech Republic will look like.

It’s still unclear how many breweries and pubs will return and how many have closed their doors for good.

Local pharmacies have begun the sale of home testing kits for the Covid-19 following a recent government order mandating businesses test their employees for antigens regularly.

Sales of rapid antigen tests have soared since the end of February and have been offered through different vendors like Pilulka, Dr. Max, and Benu Pharmacies.

One of the most popular testing methods is the “Lollipop method” currently offered by Pilulka which involves a mouth swab of sorts and provides results in only 15 minutes.

A spokeswoman for Pilulka.cz says sales of the lollipop tests saw an uptick in February.

“The interest in lollipop tests on the part of customers is huge, since the release of the February press release, in which we were informed about their inclusion in our offer, we sold them out almost immediately – it was a quantity of several thousand pieces,” Kateřina Schotliová, told CTK.

The lollipop tests can be purchased for 190 crowns each and are also sold in bulk with packs of 20 tests available.

Benu pharmacies have recently announced they are selling self-testing kits that give even faster results than the lollipop tests. The Swiss manufacturer Lomina AG offers tests that are accompanied by detailed packaging with photos explaining the simplicity of its test kit and provides results within just five minutes.

Lomina AG tests found at Benu pharmacies involve drawing a blood sample and mixing the sample with a pre-made mixture. The test taker then uses a plastic dropper to drop the blood mixture onto a test strip before awaiting results. One antigen test sells for 250 crowns and also comes in packs of five.

There are evidently more and more options becoming available for customers to purchase across various pharmacies and retailers.

Michal Petrov, a spokesman for Dr. Max pharmacies believes his company offers the best selection of self-administered antigen tests.

“We have the longest quick tests of three manufacturers – JoysBio, SafeCare, NewGene. We have recently added Lepu Medical (swab) and V-Chek (‘sponge’ or ‘lollipops’) and we are also planning to include Korean Humasis. Primarily test sets we offer it on the e-shop, if we succeed in the demand for smaller packages, then also in-store pharmacies,” Petrov said in an interview with CTK.

The Ministry of Health is constantly updating the list of officially acceptable tests for self-use and can be found here.

Beginning on Wednesday, corporate testing will commence in the Czech Republic following a government mandate established in late Feb. however, companies employing more than 50 people have until Friday, Mar. 5 to begin testing.

What follows is a comprehensive guide for businesses conducting their own testing.

Who is responsible for testing? Companies employing 250 or more workers are required to test at least once a week. The first round of negative results is due by Mar. 12 and cannot be more than seven days old. Companies with 50 to 250 employees are to begin testing from Mar. 5 with a result deadline of Mar. 15.

Rules for employees testing positive. Any employee who tests positive must leave the workplace immediately and refrain from re-entering the premises They should contact health care professionals immediately and have the choice to take another PCR confirming their results.

Where to get tested. Businesses have the option to hire a healthcare professional to come directly to the worksite or employees can find outpatient clinics offering antigen and PCR tests. Employees may test one another and self-testing is a viable option as well at the discretion of the employer.

Rules for self-testing. Self-testing kits must have been obtained by the approved network of providers sanctioned by the Ministry of Health. Remote workers are allowed to take the tests at home. An employee who misses work, may take their own test at home or have one given when they return to work. Testing rooms at the workplace must offer; a window for ventilation, a sink for handwashing, and testers must wear a respirator, goggles, and gloves.

How to pay for tests. The company may pay for the tests and then charge their health insurers for the costs. Health insurance companies are required to pay up to 60 crowns for a single test and employees are entitled to four free tests per month with a total of 240 crowns covered by insurance companies each month. Beyond that, the costs fall to the employer. Employers must keep track of expenses to request reimbursement from the health insurance companies. Insurance companies are now developing interactive, digital forms for employers to easily request reimbursement. The first round of billing will take place at the end of March.

Who is exempt from mandatory testing of business? The Ministry of Trade recommends employees go through the network or antigen testing centers which are currently covered by their public health insurance.

For more detailed information, The Ministry of Trade and Industry has posted up-to-date information pertaining to this mandate on their website.

Frustrated European Union member states faced shortages and a slow rollout of vaccine supplies.

Leaders of countries like the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Austria are looking to eastern nations seeking Russian and Chinese vaccines which were not previously approved by the European Commission’s unifying strategy.

On Feb.16, the first batch of the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm arrived in Budapest making Hungary the first EU member state to purchase and authorize the use of Chinese vaccines.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was photographed receiving the Sinopharm vaccine in a recent Facebook post stating, “Today is an important day because (on) this day we are starting to vaccinate with Chinese vaccines,” said Orban.

This public endorsement came two days after Hungarian president Janos Ader also opted for the Sinopharm vaccine which boasts a 72.5 per cent efficacy rate according to the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products.

According to government-collected data, as of Feb. 28, over 677,682 Hungarians have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while over 249,499 have received two doses.

In the Czech Republic, President Miloš Zeman along with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, reached out to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting an order of vaccines from the Russian manufacturer Sputnik.

President Zeman deemed the Sputnik V vaccine permissible once it has been officially certified by the Czech State Drug Control Institute (SUKL).

On Monday, Slovakia became the second European country to announce it had purchased the Sputnik V vaccine, securing 2 million doses before it’s been officially approved by the country’s drug administration.

In Vienna, the Austrian government is said to be in negotiations with Moscow concerning its own procurement of the Sputnik V vaccine.

Early findings from clinical trials indicate the Sputnik V vaccine was 91.6% effective against symptomatic Covid-19 infection.

Meanwhile, the European Commission has yet to sanction the use of Sputnik V or Sinopharm and have given three conditional marketing authorizations to Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca, while several other vaccines are at different stages of assessment.

The EU has also doubled its contribution to the global initiative COVAX, which pledges to “secure fair and equitable access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines in low and middle-income countries,” according to the commission’s website.

The EU has now donated 1 billion Euros in grant funding to the COVAX initiative with the goal of administering 1.3 billion doses for 92 low and middle-income countries by the end of 2021.

On Monday, Prague City approved a plan to implement over 750 charging stations for electric vehicles within the next four years.

The charging stations will be placed strategically throughout the metropolis and in the following five years there will be several thousand more charging stations installed.

The legislation approved was titled General Development of the Charging Infrastructure in the Capital City of Prague until 2030 and city management also approved a plan for the construction of charging infrastructure.

Prague’s Mayor Zdeněk Hřib believes this initiative will help Prague catch up to other modern European metropolis’ in terms of electromobility,

“As part of the analysis of the environment, technical solutions and trends in the field of public charging for General, Prague was inspired, among other things, by experience from other European capitals with a comparable population. In Vienna, Hamburg, or Rotterdam, electromobility is already in a much more advanced stage of development, so Prague is happy to learn from them, said Hřib.

Prague city councilors approved the legislation on Monday with the goal of increasing the air quality within the city.

Real-time metrics of Prague’s air quality can be tracked using Accuweather’s Air Quality Index and currently shows the city at a “Fair” rating of 40 out of 250 (Dangerous).

The initiative will run in conjunction with the previously approved, Czech National Action Plan for Clean Mobility and Prague City Council’s commitment to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions by 45 percent over the following ten years along with the ambitious goal to eliminate these emissions entirely by the year 2050.

According to the approved legislation, it is anticipated that by the year 2030, there will be over 200,000 electric vehicles in Prague accounting for 30 percent of total cars within the city.

Popular Czech vehicle manufacture ŠKODA Auto have announced that it plans to produce a quarter of its cars with electric motors by 2025. Each of these electric vehicles would have the capability to drive up to 700-800 km in one full charge.

One of the main hurdles of implementing this project is how costly its construction would be. According to figures included in the plan, the most expensive option for building this network of charging points would cost up to 2 billion crowns.

The ultimate goal of the initiative is to have over 4.5 thousand elective vehicle charging stations available in parking spaces by the year 2030.

Czech Cardinal Dominik Duka gave a sermon in early February where he made some bold claims about the COVID-19 virus.

Duka claimed the virus originated as a biological weapon and that his claims could be supported by the military.

“All military specialists around the world are convinced of this, who are either afraid to say it or they must not say it,” Duka claimed during the sermon.

Jiří Prinz, a spokesman for the archbishop of Prague told CNN Prima News that the cardinal made this statement as more of a theory but that his claim is supported by members of the Czech army.

Despite this statement, Prinz did not indicate which member of the Czech army would support such a claim.

The Czech military has made it clear that they do not agree with Duka’s sermon.

Jan Pejšek, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, told iROZHLAS.cz: “We have no such evidence, nor have we ever presented it anywhere. The World Health Organization is now trying to find out the origin of the virus. We will wait for the opinion of the experts. We refuse to speculate,” said Pejšek.

Duka also made comments about how the virus is outperforming our advanced society.

“The invisible virus can deal with us and also with the whole scientific or advanced society. With a company that tries to help but can’t. On the contrary – fear and anxiety are spreading more and more. And child resistance. “

Cardinal Duka’s sermon has been met with much criticism as many claims that he is spreading misinformation to his congregation.

Czech immunologist Václav Hořejší spoke out against the cardinal’s controversial statements in an interview with CNN Prima News.

“What I have heard is absolutely scandalous. The cardinal becomes a spreader of false news. I am also a Catholic and I am ashamed and I am embarrassed that our church is headed by such a person, “

The full sermon from February 6 featuring the cardinal’s claims can be viewed here.

Data from the Czech Statistical Office has indicated that the number of tourists visiting Prague last year dropped significantly to 27 percent of 2019’s numbers.

The report finds that only 2,178,267 visitors came to Prague last year. The massive drop in tourism is not surprising during a global pandemic where many European countries have restricted movement throughout the European Union.

Last summer, however, saw a 16 percent increase from 2019 in domestic tourism as Czechs from other regions flocked to visit the capital in the summer months.

The past year saw about 700,000 domestic tourists visiting Prague followed closely by our neighbors from Germany, Poland, and Slovakia.

The number of tourists from Russia and the United Kingdom hovered around eight hundred thousand in 2019 but decreased to 200,000 in 2020’s Covid-stricken Prague.

Prague City Tourism is a government-funded organization that has successfully executed marketing campaigns like the At Home in Prague campaign which sought to increase domestic tourism during 2020’s restrictions and saw a 16 percent increase from the previous year.

PCT chairman František Cipro says the agency is focused on ways to revive the suffering tourism industry.

“Since our new strategy includes a greater focus on the domestic market, we see the upturn in domestic visitors as a positive sign. One of its contributing factors has been our promotional campaign ‘At Home in Prague’, which ran from the middle of last year. We are currently in discussions with the City about the option to re-run the program this year.”

Prague City Tourism is currently working on what they refer to as a business “roadmap” for the future of tourism.

The goal of the roadmap is to address the needs of the cities businesses and residents. They seek to cater to a more elevated clientele of tourists and steer Prague away from its reputation as a cheap place to drink alcohol.

“This is the first comprehensive Strategic Roadmap for the Destination Management of the city. Among other things, in the future we want to promote tourism outside the high season and to target visitor groups coming to Prague for reasons other than a quick snapshot on Charles Bridge or wild partying,” says Cipro.

In an attempt to slow the spread of infections, the government is currently scheduled to convene on Monday to consider restricting travel between Prague and the Central Bohemian region.

Prague’s Mayor Zdeněk Hřib spoke out against the proposed measure and has the support of Governor Petra Pecková of the Central Bohemian region.

Pecková agreed that free movement between the two entities is vital for the well-being and economic prosperity of its residents.

“I request the government not to impose restrictions on movement between Prague and the Central Bohemian Region. Together we form one functional unit, an agglomeration connected in terms of transport, socially and economically. It is essential to maintain links in the field of healthcare,” Hřib stated on Twitter on Saturday.

Prime Minister Babiš admitted last week that the situation in regard to the pandemic is not improving.

Babiš feels that there is no point in tightening measures if the public does not obey them to begin with and that if they would comply, businesses could reopen again.

“We must clearly tell the citizens that the situation is not good, but we must also say that if we all follow the measures as it did in the spring, we will dismantle schools, shops or services,” Babiš said on a recent visit to Hungary.

Minister of Health Jan Blatný has also expressed his frustrations and says the public choosing to disobey the restrictions is only prolonging the situation. Blatný feels the country’s current situation is dire as the more aggressive British mutation of the virus is spreading throughout the Czech Republic.

The nation-wide state of emergency is still in effect until February 14. Beyond that, it is still unclear whether the government can extend the state of emergency without the consent of the Chamber of Deputies.

The Communist opposition party KSČM have openly stated they will not support an extension of the state of emergency but are open to negotiations with the government.

The house is scheduled to meet on Thursday afternoon to consider the extension of the state of emergency.

Prague’s Public Transit Company (DPP) is testing a new phone application called „Pozor tramvaj!“ that warns pedestrians of oncoming trams as they cross the street.

Their goal is to reduce the number of collisions between trams and pedestrians and increase public safety by keeping pedestrians alert and giving trams priority.

Within city limits, 97 trams have been equipped with a device that would alert app users within 100 to 120 meters away via Bluetooth.

Users can choose between two modes; the default mode would only work when the phone is in use and the other would use vibrations and ringtone alerts to warn pedestrians a tram is approaching even with the app closed and phone’s screen shut off.

A spokesperson for DPP says that last year alone there were 47 collisions between pedestrians and trams although fortunately, no injuries resulted in death.

The new application is already being piloted on the 9, 11, and 22 tram lines and will continue at least until the end of June.

Milan Slunečko, A DPP tram manager told CTK that the trial period will extend into this summer.

“The pilot operation will run until the end of June this year. We will evaluate it in the summer and, based on the results, decide whether to install the transmission equipment in all our trams.”

pozor tramvaj app

During the First Czechoslovakia Republic, artists, patriots, merchants of industry, and the affluent all flocked to Prague which became the country’s cultural hub.

It was in the city’s many cafes that the artists, poets, writers, and journalists would gather.

For artistically inclined Praguers, the Slavia Café became a local favorite where creatives could converge and enjoy riverfront views.

The wealthy elites would also find themselves at Slavia and enjoy close proximity to the National Theater. The era of the first republic is often referred to as the golden age despite the vast wage gap between the affluent and the poor working class. Café Slavia was named for the Slavic pride of its founders and still stands to this day.

Situated on Wenceslas Square is Café Evropa nestled within the Grand Evropa Hotel. The Art-Nouveau décor at Café Evropa harkens back to its opening in 1889. It is said that the hotel’s café and restaurant are believed to be the inspiration of the dining room in James Cameron’s classic film Titanic.

It was during this era that Parisian coffee grew in popularity and Café Louvre became the go-to spot for the affluent to gather. The café featured a games room with billiards tables and private club rooms for those who could afford it. Café Louvre was a favorite for notables like Franz Kafka and Albert Einstein in their day.

Café Montmartre which opened in 1911, was also frequented by novelists like Kafka, Max Brod, and Jaroslav Hašek. The café still stands today inside a building referred to only as U třech divých (house at the three savages). Although it is still centrally located, it gets less tourist attention than cafes like Slavia.

At the beginning of the First Republic, another popular haunt for locals was the Grand Café Orient and is said to have been the only Cubist café in the world. Forced to close in the 1920’s the café reopened in 2005 and honored the original cubist design concept paying homage to architect Josef Gočár. The building in which Grand Café Orient sits is known as the House of the Black Madonna currently serving as the Czech Museum of Cubism.

This “Golden Age” of cafes during the first republic continues to live on as efforts are taken to restore and maintain these beloved and culturally rich historical sites.

Even as a global pandemic plagues the city, Prague’s residents look for a to return to the old days. The public has every intention to continue upholding its longstanding tradition of finding like-minded and gathering over a cup of coffee.

A Czech woman made headlines last week for her role in preventing an armed gunman from robbing a petrol station near Bratislava.

She was able to subdue the gunman by performing oral sex on him until the police arrived on the scene.

The 36-year-old Czech woman was at the petrol station buying cigarettes when an armed man began pointing a gun at the station clerk and punching him in the face before taking money from the cash register.

The clerk was described as having blood covering his face and shirt after the attack.

From there the gunman grabbed the Czech woman by the hand and dragged her to the back office believing her to be an employee. The gunman was believed to be speaking Serbian and demanded that she open the safe for him.

“He said he would kill me, he wanted money. He repeated it several times,” the woman told Topky.sk.

It was at this point that the Czech woman began to flirt with the gunman in an attempt to distract him while the staff called for help.

“At that moment, I couldn’t think of anything other than taking off my jacket, sweater and showing him my strengths,” said the woman.

She describes the suspect as being easily seduced and that he quickly began to undress and demand oral sex from her. Out of fear for her life she complied, “so I satisfied him,” she thinks the entire ordeal took place for approximately 30 minutes.

“I knew that the pump staff would definitely deal with this situation and call the police,” she added.

When the police arrived, they found the two in the back-office half-naked and lying on the floor.

“I turned him on his stomach, grabbed him by the throat, and called the cops to come to me. They immediately pacified him,” she recounted.

Police believe the first words they heard when encountering the two on the ground were “Take him, I can’t do it anymore.”

The suspect is a 24-year-old Serbian man who appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Police investigation into the matter is still underway.

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