Czech Republic Archives – Page 5 of 27

Many European governments have banned large events until the end of August, putting an end to the continent’s festival summer.

The Czech government is following the same direction, as confirmed today by the Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek (ČSSD). “Summer festivals, which are usually attended by thousands of participants, will not take place.”

On Tuesday, the popular Karlovy Vary International Film Festival canceled this year’s edition due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 55th edition was due to be held July 3 – 11. The festival said the cancellation was necessary “in view of the Czech government’s ongoing coronavirus measures and the complicated worldwide situation.”

Meanwhile, the government decided to allow the operation of theaters, cinemas, concert halls, circuses and similar establishments for up to 100 people.

According to the Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch (ANO), this limit applies to weddings, as well.

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Live Nation announced the cancellation of Germany’s Rock im Park and Rock am Ring anniversaries.

Goodlive’s German festivals Melt and Splash are also affected, while no announcements have been made yet regarding the premiere of Superbloom, which is still scheduled for Sept. 5-6.

In Belgium, Rock Werchter has announced the cancellation of its 2020 edition, which was bound to send shock waves through Europe.

Other major events on the continent have cancelled, including Slovakia’s Pohoda festival and Portugal’s biennial Boom Festival.

Spain’s Primavera Sound has postponed the event from June 3-7 to Aug. 26-30, however, it remains to be seen whether the Spanish authorities decide to introduce extended bans on public life.

It hasn’t yet made any announcements regarding its Eastern European events, including Balaton Sound, Volt and Exit.

The EUvsVirus Hackathon Jury identified the best solutions to support European and global in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak.

In collaboration with private and public partners from Europe and beyond, they are awarding the best teams and solutions per domain as well as a winner and two runner-ups for each of the 37 challenges.

CoroVent came to life as a collaboration between the Czech tech industry, educational institutions, government and average citizens, crowdsourcing, and organizing efforts to fight the COVID-19 epidemic.

The Czech team collected more than $500,000 in a crowd-funding campaign to “help save the lives of moms, dads, grandmothers, and grandfathers”.

All the winners will be invited to a Matchathon that will take place from 22 to 25 May on the new EIC COVID Platform. This online event will facilitate match-making with end-users, such as hospitals, and provide access to investors, corporates, foundations, and other funding opportunities from across the EU.

A total of over €100,000 pledged by partnering organisations will be distributed by the partners to winners of their choosing to reward hackers for their hard work and novel solutions with the greatest potential to save lives and bring life in a global pandemic closer to normal.

The group’s CoroVent ventilator is a simple design intended to be reliable while also meeting hospital standards. The designers drew inspiration from years of work on a similar project at the Czech Technical University.

The final prototype of the ventilator has been already laboratory tested. The first batch of 500 pcs for the Czech Republic was delivered by mid-April.

“We followed the situation in Italy and some things quickly became clear, with news about people lacking ventilators and doctors facing the hard choice of who to let live and who to let die,” Vojtech Rocek, one of the founders of the CoroVent project.

For more information please visit CoroVent.com

“Russia will avoid a worsening of relations with the Czech Republic, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, commenting on press comments on the alleged preparation of an attack against Czech officials by Russia.

The Czech press reported the alleged arrival of a representative of the Russian security organs to eliminate officials responsible for dismantling a monument in Prague dedicated to Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev.

“We do not want tension in relations at all”, said Zakharova, who affirmed that everything possible is being done so that this does not happen, “since we depart from the fact that these links must be developed on the basis of mutual respect,” she said.

In addition, she considered strange the decision of the Czech government to rename Pod Kaštany Square, where the Russian embassy in Prague is located, in memory of the opposer Boris Nemtsov, organizer of protests against the Russian government in 2011 and who died the victim of an attack.

Commenting on information published by the Czech weekly journal Respekt regarding the alleged arrival in the Czech Republic of a Russian security official with the purpose of poisoning Prague municipal officials, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov called that version a sham.

The Prime Minister Andrej Babis, considered, for his part, that the expulsion of the Russian ambassador would not be necessary for anyway, because of the aforementioned information.

Moscow denounced at the time the intention of the Czech authorities to harm relations with Russia, insisting on the removal of the monument to Konev, even amid the limitations imposed by the coronavirus.

One of the Prague municipal leaders took advantage of the situation of the compulsory lockdown of the population to mobilize several workers and dismantle the aforementioned monument, dedicated to who is considered to be the liberator of then-Czechoslovakia from the Nazi occupation.

According to the country’s leading epidemiology expert, Deputy Health Minister Roman Prymula, the drug will be administered in four Czech hospitals: Prague’s Motol, Bulovka, and General University hospitals and the St. Anne’s Hospital in Brno

The lower house of the Czech parliament voted on Tuesday to extend a state of emergency until May 17, a week less than the government had sought, as the country charts a course to emerge from a coronavirus lockdown earlier than forecast.

The extension is a week shorter than the government sought. The prime minister, Andrej Babiš, had asked for an extension until 25 May to be able to keep restrictions on business in place.

The state of emergency was due to expire on 30 April.

The government of Andrej Babiš and the Social Democrats have been trying to secure sufficient support for the extension, but the opposition parties remained firmly against it.

It has announced that it now expects to reopen the economy faster than previously forecast, although not in time for the deadline now set by parliament.

Babis said after the vote that the government would seek legal amendments to keep some restrictions in place after the state of emergency ends, news agency CTK reported.

The state of emergency allows the government to adopt measures to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, such as limitations on free movement inside the country and across borders, shop and restaurant closures, and streamlined procurement of medical supplies.

Prague was one of the few governments to declare a state of emergency before the country had recorded its first coronavirus death.

By 11 March it had closed all schools, limited public gatherings, banned all public events, sealed its borders, and shuttered all non-essential stores. It also made face masks obligatory in public.

PM Babis’ cabinet declared a state of emergency — the median of three possible states of crisis — on 12 March.

Almost 7,500 people have been tested positive for the coronavirus in the Czech Republic, according to government figures released on Tuesday, 225 have died.

The Czech Athletics Federation announced that it will be ‘back on the track’ with a six-meeting series to launch in June.

The Czech government’s plan to ease restrictions imposed to control the new coronavirus pandemic will open 100 stadiums across the country to athletes from 1 June.That, coupled with the decision to allow public gatherings of up to 50 people from 25 May, has allowed the national governing body to organize a series of six “micro-meetings”.

The first, set for Sletiste stadium in Kladno on 1 June, will officially kick off the season and will be broadcast live by the Czech national broadcaster CT.

Programs and details are still being confirmed, but the Kladno meeting’s timetable will include a women’s javelin, men’s shot put and men’s 300m. Czech stars Barbora Spotakova, Tomas Stanek and Pavel Maslak have already confirmed their participation – and they can’t wait.

“Athletes want to compete as soon as possible and our federation has found a way to arrange events with a limited number of fifty people,” said Libor Varhanik, Czech Athletic Federation president. “We want to engage athletes of all age categories and performance levels.”

To that end, more than 100 additional competitions will be organized for children and youth athletes across the country on 1 June. The aim of the initiative, Varhanik said, is for all athletes to be together, at least symbolically, at the start of this year’s competitive season.

“That’s why we jumped in together on the first of June at 100 and more athletic stadiums under the slogan, ‘Back on the Track’.” Varhanik said the federation put out the call to its regional and club organizations over the weekend to gauge interest for the first meeting. “According to the responses, it will be enormous,” he said.

The “Back on the Track” project will be connected across the country via social networks, providing video and photo coverage with the hashtag #BackOnTheTrack.

Federation officials stress that all competitions are being organized to align firmly with government rules expected to be in force on 1 June.

23.00: From Monday, April 27, universities will open for all students.

22.10: The Czech government lifted a ban on its citizens traveling abroad for reasons other than work following an improvement in conditions of the coronavirus outbreak.

21.41: The Czech government will cancel restrictions on free movement as of Friday and allow groups of up to 10 people to meet in public as it scales back measures to fight the spread of the new coronavirus, Health Minister Adam Vojtech said on Thursday

21.12: On Friday, the government will ask the Chamber of Deputies to extend the state of emergency until May 25, Hamáček said to ČTK. The state of emergency, set to expire on April 30, gives the government powers to limit people’s movement or close businesses.

20:50: The government did not announce any changes regarding easing the ban on travel abroad apart from business trips and commuting.

The Czech cabinet on Monday approved an amendment to increase the state budget deficit to 300 billion CZK (11.92 billion U.S. dollars), the Ministry of Finance said in a press release.

It’s the second time the Czech government plans to readjust its state budget this year. In March, President Milos Zeman signed into law a budget expansion up to 200 billion CZK (7.95 billion U.S. dollars).

“The crisis situation persists and there is a further fall in income, which is why this amendment is absolutely necessary to save our economy. We have come up with a number of measures to help both employees, entrepreneurs and businesses,” said Finance Minister Alena Schillerova.

The latest amendment to the Act on the State of Budget for 2020 is based on the updated macroeconomic forecast published by the Ministry of Finance, the ministry said.

The newly proposed budget will contain a total of 1.4282 trillion CZK (56.76 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue and 1.7282 trillion in spending (68.68 billion U.S. dollars), leaving a state budget deficit of 300 billion.

The state now predicts further losses of tax revenue and plans to increase benefits and provide debt relief, the ministry said.

Temperature records were broken in many parts of the Czech Republic on Thursday.

Thirty of the 150 weather stations in the country keeping records for at least 30 years had not seen such a warm April 16.

The highest temperature was recorded in Pilsen, where the thermometer reached 24.6° C. The information was released by Czech meteorologists.

The maximum temperature exceeded 24° C in Dobřichovice (Central Bohemian Region), in Pilsen-Mikul, in Usti nad Labem-Vanova, in Prague Komořany, and Kopisty.

It is expected that temperatures above 20° C will continue in the next two days, while a slight cooling is expected from Sunday.

Last summer was the hottest in 58 years, with average temperatures of 19.5 degrees Celsius, some 2.5 degrees above the norm for June through August.

The month of June, in particular, was hotter than usual, by some 5 degrees Celsius.

In Prague, June 30, 2019, was recorded as the date of the absolutely highest temperature since measurements started in 1775, with 37.9C.

Analysts predict a significant rise in the prices of fruits and vegetables in Czech stores.

Reasons are different: the Czech crown currency’s recent weakening, spring frosts and a shortage of workers in agriculture.

At the moment in Tesco supermarkets, bell peppers cost 80 CZK/kg, tomatoes 60 CZK/kg, and lemons 55 CZK/kg. These prices are about 30% more expensive than last year.

Prices are expected to rise also in rice, as there is a significant increase in global demand.

It is characteristic that, according to Reuters data, the price of rice has climbed to the highest levels since April 2013.

Farmers all over the world feel the lack of employees, including major European suppliers – Great Britain, Spain, France and Italy.

The numbers involved are substantial: France is short of about 200,000 workers until the end of May, while Spain has a shortfall of 70,000 to 80,000. Italy needs about 250,000 seasonal workers in the next two months, while the UK normally receives 70,000 to 80,000 over the season and Germany 300,000.

The restrictions around the coronavirus outbreak have made it impossible for thousands of migrant workers to come and harvest crops in Spanish fields.

“Farmers are forced to hire local residents and pay them a higher salary, which affects the cost of production,” said Boris Tomchiak, Finlord analyst.

Every year, thousands of people from countries like Romania, Bulgaria or Poland come to work in the fields. Many others, especially women, come from Morocco.

Join us on Telegram and follow our Insta Stories to read the latest updates on the coronavirus in the Czech Republic.

On Tuesday, April 14, the Czech government has unveiled a phased-out plan for easing the coronavirus restrictions in the coming weeks.

The plan was presented by the Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček. It is still a draft version, this means that certain dates can be shifted if the situation in the country gets worse.

Czechs will continue to be required to wear masks for the time being, Health Minister Adam Vojtech said. His deputy, Roman Prymula, added that now “a person with the virus infects less than one person on average” and that the epidemic is in decline, Reuters reported.

April 20
– Car shows
– Car boot sales
– Professional athletes will be able to train in public
– Weddings up to 10 people (with specific hygienic measures in place)
– Farmers markets
– Craftsmen and their workshops (e.g. locksmiths, shoe repair shops, joiners etc.)

April 27
– Stores up to 200 square meters (except those in shopping centers)

May 11
– Stores up to 1000 square meters (except those in shopping centers)
– Driving schools
– Gyms and fitness centres but the showers and dressing rooms within them will be off limits.

May 25
– Restaurants, bars, and cafes, with service from windows or in gardens.
– Hairdressers
– Beauty salons
– Tanning salons
– Museums, galleries, exhibition halls
– Zoological gardens (outdoor parts only)

June 8
– Shopping center
– Restaurants, cafes, and bars
– Hotels, hostels, (including their restaurants)
– Theaters
– Castles and palaces
– Bookstores
– Cinemas and theaters
– It will be possible to hold events for up to 50 people
– Tattoo and piercing salons

Schools

Schools will also open gradually. University entrance exams are scheduled for June, and if the development of the disease permits, schools will open for school leavers on May 11th, and younger schoolchildren (including kindergartens) on May 25th.

The Ministry of Education expects the first school-leaving examinations after June 1st. Admission exams for secondary schools will also take place in June, and for the last month of the school year, pupils at the second level of primary schools and secondary school students outside the final year can return to school for classes or consultations.

Pre-schools, nurseries (mateřské školy)

Were not closed by a government order, therefore their reopening is primarily up to their owners [my note: often local municipalities]
However, they will be allowed to open only if they can comply with conditions set by the Ministry of Health.
According to the Education Minister reopening by the 25th of May is realistic, but ultimately not up to the ministry, as per the above.

With effect from April 14th, 2020 (0:00) new conditions of entry to the territory of the Czech Republic shall apply for the duration of the state of emergency.

Foreigners residing in the Czech Republic, like Czech citizens, will be able to travel abroad, now with the possibility of returning during the state of emergency.

The purpose of travel must be in accordance with the exceptions to the prohibition of free movement imposed by the Ministry of Health.

It is therefore limited to necessary and justified cases only (e.g. fulfillment of official duties, work abroad, etc.), which will have to be proven individually to the police at border crossings. Diplomatic notice from an embassy is therefore no longer required.

Interior Minister Jan Hamáček, who heads the country’s Central Crisis Staff, said this does not mean Czechs “can go shopping in Dresden. The borders are still closed, visas won’t be issued and foreigners are still banned” from entering.

Everyone returning to the Czech Republic (both citizens and foreigners) must undergo a 14-day ordered mandatory quarantine.

Only clearly defined cases of journeys shorter than 24 hours are subject to the exception of the ordered quarantine.

Prohibition of entry to foreigners (including EU citizens), with the exception of those with a valid residence permit, remains effective.

A ban on travel to “risk” states entered into effect on March 14; two days later it was extended to all countries.

Join us on Telegram and follow our Insta Stories to read the latest updates on the coronavirus in the Czech Republic.

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