Next week, the ministry will set the conditions for vaccinating foreigners; innoculation may also be made accessible to self-payers. Next week, the Ministry of Health will set the conditions and enable vaccination for foreigners in the Czech Republic against Covid-19. It could also be possible for self-payers, Minister of Health Petr Arenberger (for ANO) told deputies. “Members of the diplomatic corps are vaccinated in the same way. They only pay for the application and have the vaccine for free,” the minister said. Self-payers will also pay for the vaccine. “The vaccination centers that are selected will pay the vaccine back to the state,” the minister added. The minister has not yet said when foreigners could be vaccinated. Ministry of Health spokeswoman, Jana Schillerová, said that the office is preparing the possibility of registering foreigners who do not have public health insurance in the Czech Republic or other EU countries in the Central Registration System. “This will be mainly Czech citizens who do not have public health insurance, foreigners from the EU, and foreigners from other countries who have a long-term residence in the Czech Republic,” she mentioned. Foreigners with public health insurance from EU countries, the European Economic Area, Switzerland,...
A Czech town has launched a scheme whereby residents are being given money to spend in shops and cafes badly hit by COVID-19 lockdowns, in the form of digital vouchers being marketed as a special local currency. Up to 2,000 residents of Kyjov are each being given CZK 400 worth of “corrents”, a name blending the words for “coronavirus” and “currency”, to spend at 40 businesses including shoe shops, a pharmacy, and a burger joint. When they make a purchase under the scheme, participants pay for half of it with corrents and the other half with their own money. “It is good to support people to come and buy a nice burger and support us as well,” said Verka Vaskova, who works at a fast-food outlet near Kyjov’s main square. The Kyjov scheme is being funded to the tune of CZK 800,000 by a private individual who does not wish to be named, and administered by Pepe Rafaj, who came up with the idea. Rafaj refers to the corrents as “drone money”, as a way of comparing it to the much-discussed concept of “helicopter money”, the idea that central banks could transfer cash directly to citizens as a form of...
According to the so-called “Nanny State Index” of 2021, residents of the Czech Republic face one of the fewest restrictions when it comes to eating, drinking and smoking, compared with other EU countries. The think tank deems this worthy of praise, but health experts have their concerns. The 2021 Nanny State Index Since March 2016, the Nanny State Index has been ranking the European Union’s 28 member states according to how easy they make it to eat, drink, smoke and vape. The ranking considers the extent to which the government in any given country attempts to deter consumption of legal products, for instance by restricting trading hours and advertisements, levying taxes, or imposing outright bans. From the point of view of the authors of the study, these kinds of paternalistic policies are not an expression of state welfare but questionable and counterproductive measures that negatively impact the quality of life. There is little evidence, they argue, that countries that impose such restrictive policies enjoy greater health or longevity. There is, for example, no correlation between greater tobacco control and lower smoking rates. Perhaps surprisingly for a country generally regarded as overly-fond of rules and restrictions, Germany came out on top in the...
As restaurants and pubs prepare to reopen their doors for outside seating next week, the government has mandated that WiFi and music not be provided to guests. Minister of Trade and Industry Karel Havlíček announced on CNN Prima News that restaurants and pubs will not be allowed to offer WiFi or music to their guests so that people do not gather publically for long periods of time. “Music and basically wifi are forbidden in the gardens because it is not the goal for young people, in particular, to meet, have a beer and sit there for four hours,” Havlíček said. Restaurant gardens and patios are scheduled to reopen on May 17 with the condition that guests show proof of vaccination, negative PCR tests, or antigen test results. Government officials have not made it clear how this would work out logistically. On Thursday, the government is set to announce specific instructions for how businesses are meant to handle the verification of customer’s documents. Havlíček also stated, “In principle, the customer will have to prove himself – whether to the hygiene or to the restaurant operator – either by vaccination, a test or by having Covid.” In order to make the handling...
Czech rail infrastructure manager SŽ has selected the consortium Sudop Praha and Olomouc-based engineering consultancy Moravia Consult to undertake the feasibility study into the planned Prague – Hradec Králové – Wrocław high-speed line. The contract is worth CZK 12.6m with final reports due by November 2022. SŽ presented its overall plans for the new high-speed network in April. Planning for the new lines is taking place in three phases: the first strategic phase was undertaken between 2014 and 2018 and confirmed the need for and basic outline of the new routes. The current pre-investment phase, which will conclude around 2023, includes detailed feasibility studies. Once feasibility work is complete this will lead to outline planning approval enabling the final construction management planning to take place in 2023-25, leading to the issue of building permits for construction to begin from 2025 onwards. The proposed RS5 Praha – Hradec Králové – Wrocław line will branch from the planned RS1 Prague – Brno – Břeclav route serving the city of Hradec Králové with a branch to Pardubice on the existing Prague – Olomouc main line. The feasibility study will design the route of the future high-speed line and its connections, as well as assess...
According to the National Center for the Study of Public Opinion, the most popular among those who are going to get vaccinated was the drug produced by Pfizer and BioNTech. Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine inspires confidence among 14% of residents of the Czech Republic planning to vaccinate, according to the results of a population survey conducted by the National Center for the Study of Public Opinion, Czech Radio reported on Wednesday. According to the survey, 59% of the country’s population of 10.702 mln people intend to be vaccinated. The most popular among those who are going to get vaccinated was the drug produced by Pfizer and BioNTech – 58%, followed by the vaccine from Johnson & Johnson (17%). Sputnik V took third place in this rating, followed by vaccines from Moderna (12%), AstraZeneca (7%), and Chinese Sinopharm (1%). Vaccination against coronavirus began in the Czech Republic on December 27, 2020. So far, 2,738,433 residents were vaccinated, and 1,058,360 people underwent a full cycle of vaccination. During the pandemic, the total number of coronavirus cases in the country amounted to 1,648,667, 1,586,400 people recovered, and 29,787 residents died. Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine has already been registered by regulators in about...
Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates) called on the Health Ministry on Twitter today to deal with the COVID vaccination of foreigners without health insurance in the Czech Republic. At present, only people having public health insurance in the Czech Republic can get vaccinated in the country, including foreigners with permanent residence and foreign employees. Their family members and asylum seekers also enjoy an exemption. Others will have to have commercial health insurance. Hřib argued that if uninsured foreigners, primarily in Prague, were eliminated from the vaccination system, the population protection would not be secured. Over one million people have received both doses of a Covid vaccine to date, over 3.6 million vaccines have been administered in all. According to a survey conducted in April by the Center for Public Opinion Research at the Czech Academy of Sciences, 59% of Czechs said they planned to be vaccinated, while 26% of them declared they wouldn’t. Around 60% of Czechs would prefer the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, while an equal share of respondents would not want to receive the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine. Meanwhile, a petition has been recently launched calling for foreign residents living in the Czech Republic but insured outside the Czech public health...
According to the Association of Restaurateurs (APRON), the condition of submitting a test to a guest in the front garden is not feasible. There is no legislative support for it either. On Monday, the government decided that catering establishments will be allowed to let guests into the open air from May 17. A maximum of four people will be able to sit at the table unless they are members of one household. The space between the tables will have to be at least 1.5 meters; they should be the same distance from passers-by if the garden, for example, is not separated from the sidewalk by a barrier. Guests will need to have a negative coronavirus test at entry. They will be allowed to use any type of test: from the sampling center, employment. According to the Minister of Industry and Trade, Karel Havlíček (ANO), they will also bring their own self-test and test themselves on site. According to Kateřina Holnová from APRON, the government’s decision in the case of tests does not correspond to what the representatives of entrepreneurs tried to convince the Ministry of Health during the negotiations. APRON has a legal analysis: A restaurateur cannot require a negative...
Security guards in a supermarket in Plzeň detained a Czech man while trying to steal 350 boxes of condoms. The man entered the store with an empty bag, filled it with the condoms, and walked back to the entrance. One of the guards stopped the 34-year-old man and asked to see the contents of the bag, in response he started to run. A few minutes later, the guard called the police. During interrogation, it turned out the man has been already convicted 13 times in the past years, mainly for property damage and violent nature. In December, Prague police were looking for another Czech man who stole 30 packs of condoms, 29 tubes of lubricant, three vibration rings, and an electric nail file from a store. The total amount of merchandise stolen was estimated at over 20,000 CZK.
According to the Czech Chamber of Fitness, the government will allow the operation of indoor sports facilities under a special regime from May 17, affirmed Chamber president Jana Havrdová. The information also follows from the directive of the Ministry of Health. The ministers did not mention the fitness centres reopening at the press conference after the government meeting yesterday. It was stated, however, in the resolution published later Gyms will open with a number of restrictions: the presence of more sportsmen than 1 per 15 square meters of the indoor area of a sports ground is not allowed, there must be no more than 2 people in a group and 10 people in total in a sports venue, all individuals present have to submit a negative test for COVID-19 (PCR, antigen, or self-test) not older than 48 hours OR a certificate of vaccination OR confirmation that they have contracted the virus no longer than three months prior, visitors must maintain a distance of at least 2 meters, changing rooms and showers remain closed. There is no clarity with the mask regime in sports venues. Details will be announced soon. Havrdová called this decision “light at the end of the tunnel”,...
Be it its world-famous politicians, top-class sportsmen, or globally lauded writers and musicians, the Czech Republic boasts many famous natives who significantly contributed to their diverse fields. Here is a list of some of the world-known Czech women who have earned an unparalleled names and an irreplaceable place in the country’s history. Milada Horáková, a politician and underground resistance movement member during World War II, was a victim of judicial murder, convicted and executed by the nation’s Communist Party on fabricated charges of conspiracy and treason. The guilty verdict against Horáková and her co-accused was annulled during the Prague Spring in 1968, but it was only after the Velvet Revolution in 1989 that she received her rightful honours from the nation, being awarded the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1st Class) in 1991. Charlotte Garrigue-Masaryk, the U.S. American-born wife of the Czechoslovak president and politician, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first President of Czechoslovakia, was an enthusiastic advocate of women’s rights and encouraged women to fully utilize their talents and engage in political activity. Dr. Alice Masaryková or Alice Garrigue Masaryk was one of the best-known women globally in social welfare; founder of the sociology department at Prague’s Charles University and the...
As part of the next step of loosening of restrictions, the government will abolish the obligation to wear mouth and nose protection when outside from Monday provided that there is no crowding and it is possible to observe a distance of at least 2 meters between people. There is no change in the constraint to close the respiratory passages indoors. “In outdoor areas, the obligation to wear mouth and nose protection will only apply where at least two persons less than two meters apart are present in the same place and at the same time, unless they are household members,” said Petr Arenberger, Minister of Health of the Czech Republic. “It is the same practice as what we had here in autumn. When you are in an open area and there are no other people around, you do not have to wear mouth protection; but when you come to a tram or bus stop and there are more people, you put on a mask,” he added. The exclusion from wearing a mask will also apply to the time required to consume food and beverages outside the premises of public catering establishments. Since the beginning of March, people have to wear...
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