prague Archives – Page 4 of 28

According to Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček (ČSSD), the Czech Republic’s borders with neighboring countries should be fully open from July, Hospodářské noviny writes.

Negotiations with Slovakia and Austria are the most advanced, meanwhile with Poland and Germany “it will require more time”, the minister said this evening.

“From July, I would like the borders to be fully opened to four neighboring countries – Austria, Germany, Poland, and Slovakia. I’m honest when I say that we are well advanced in negotiations with Austria and Slovakia. Negotiations with Poland will probably be the most difficult,” Petříček added.

From August, Czechs could travel not only to Croatia, Slovenia, and Greece, but also to more distant destinations outside Europe, such as Canada, Australia, and Japan.

According to Petříček, it is “still premature to talk about Italy, Spain, France, the USA, and Benelux.”

With effect from April 14th, 2020 Czech citizens and foreigners, are again able to travel abroad, now with the possibility of returning during the state of emergency.

Travel is allowed in necessary and justified cases only (e.g. fulfillment of official duties, work abroad, funeral etc.), which will have to be proven individually to the police at border crossings.

Anyway, as the Prime Minister Babis said in a previous interview, “we had theoretically opened the borders, but in practice, people cannot get anywhere. Flights are mostly canceled and other governments won’t allow people from other countries to enter unless they have a valid coronavirus test.”

On April 20, the President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman says the “borders should remain closed at least for one year to tackle the spread of the novel coronavirus.”

Since March, the coronavirus has been confirmed in 7,740 cases. To date, 3,378 people have recovered from Covid-19, while 241 patients have died.

Coronavirus is continuing its spread across the world, with more than three million confirmed cases in 185 countries. More than 200,000 people have lost their lives.

The US has by far the largest number of cases, with more than one million confirmed infections, according to figures collated by Johns Hopkins University. With more than 60,000 fatalities, it also has the world’s highest death toll.

The Czech government has sped up plans to restart the country amid the novel coronavirus pandemic and will begin reopening cinemas and theaters on May 11, two weeks ahead of the government’s previous May 25 target.

Audiences in theaters will initially be limited to 100 people. Previous restrictions banned all gatherings of more than 10 people due to concerns surrounding the pandemic.

Czech health minister Adam Vojtech announced the new measures late on Thursday. In addition to cinemas, sporting and cultural events, limited to 100 people, will also be allowed from May 11.

The moves raises hopes that film and television production in Prague may also be allowed to restart soon.

The Czech Republic is one of the top spots for international television and film production and if Czech backlots can re-open, it would be a welcome sign that the entertainment industry is getting back to work.

According to World Health Organization data, there were no new deaths from COVID-19 in the Czech Republic on Thursday

Ryanair is planning to cut 3,000 pilot and cabin crew jobs and reduce staff pay by up to a fifth in response to the Covid-19 crisis, which has grounded flights.

Europe’s largest low-cost carrier said it expected it will now take at least two years for a return to 2019 passenger demand and pricing, estimating summer 2020 at the earliest, as it laid out plans to cut further costs.

Group CEO Michael O’Leary, whose pay was cut by 50% for April and May, has now agreed to extend this 50% pay cut for the remainder of the financial year to March 2021.

He told the BBC: “If a vaccine isn’t found then clearly we may have to announce more cuts and deeper cuts into the future.”

In a Covid-19 market update today, Ryanair said it would ground more than 99% of its flights until July and said it had begun negotiations with Boeing about cutting the number of aircraft deliveries over the next 24 months.

It expects to carry fewer than 100 million passengers for the year to the end of March 2021, 35% less than its original target of 154 million.

O’Leary also addressed complaints from customers about the difficulty in getting refunds for cancelled flights. The airline is offering vouchers in the first instance.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, he said: “We will give you your money back. If you want a cash refund, you will receive a cash refund.”

But he added: “It’s going to take us many months to process these cash refunds. The airline would normally process 10,000 claims a month but was currently dealing with a backlog of 25m, covering cancellations from March to May.”

Earlier, Mr. O’Leary said he planned to challenge in European Courts what he described as more than €30 billion in “unlawful and discriminatory state aid” to a dozen rivals, including Lufthansa Group, Air France-KLM Group, and Alitalia.

From May 11, ninth-graders students will return to school, cinemas, and theaters can reopen. Minister of Health added that there will be strict rules for visitors, such as a safe distance between them.

For example, cinemas will have a limit of 100 people per auditorium in the hall. However, they will not be allowed to sell any snacks. “No popcorn, no drinking. It would be necessary to take off the face mask and that is a great risk,” Vojtech explained.

There will always be one free row among the occupied ones. People must sit at least one empty seat apart. Only couples and married couples can sit next to each other.

Hairdressers and barbers need to wear a face mask. At the same time, it will be necessary to keep at least a two-meter distance between customers.

The Minister of Industry Karel Havlíček explained how restaurants’ gardens will work. “Customers can sit without restrictions at one table. However, the distance between guests at different tables must be one and a half meters”.

Shopping centers over 5,000 meters will open on May 11. Hand disinfection will be provided at each entrance. Disinfection must also be provided in all shops. Children’s corners and similar services won’t work. Employees must prevent people from gathering in front of the toilets.

“From May 11, it will be possible to try on clothes. Prerequisite is hand disinfection,” said Minister Vojtěch.

According to the Minister of Education Robert Plaga, kindergartens “will operate as usual, with increased hygienic measures”. Children do not have to wear a face mask, but they should spend most of their time outside outdoor.

Minister Plaga emphasized that the return of ninth-graders students to schools will be voluntary.

Sports and cultural events (up to 100 people) will be able to take place again, providing the epidemiological situation remains favourable and specific hygienic measures are in place. Indoor sports grounds will also be opened, said Milan Hnilička (ANO), chairman of the National Sports Agency.

Museums and galleries should also open from May 11. Up to 100 people will be allowed at the same time, with a maximum of one per ten square meters of space for visitors. “Galleries and museums know their exhibition area and therefore are able to count how many people can let in,” said Vojtech. Visitors have to keep two meters of safe distance.

Cross-border workers will newly be released from the mandatory quarantine if they present a negative test result to a district hygienic station within 72 hours after returning to the country. Negative test result will be required once in 30 days.

The smart quarantine project is to be applied actively nationwide as of May 1st after undergoing a testing period in several regions. It should replace the broad government-imposed restrictions which are being gradually eased.

“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 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, annual event that has been taking place in the Czech Republic since 1946, has decided to cancel its 55th annual festival in light of the coronavirus, KVIFF organizers announced on Tuesday morning in Prague.

The festival would have taken place on July 3-11.

Instead, it will offer a selection of movies from its lineup in theaters across the Czech Republic, as the country prepares to open up cinemas (up to 50 viewers) again. It will stage its industry program online.

“We strongly believe that seeing a movie with other people in a theater is a powerful and irreplaceable experience,” said Jiří Bartoška, president of the festival. “And because of the Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival is one of the most important cultural events in the Czech Republic, we have decided that holding an alternative version would go against the festival’s main mission: to bring together audiences, filmmakers, and people from different walks of life in order to collectively enjoy works of cinema.”

The tour will be a special version of the “KVIFF at Your Cinema” program, which takes festival films around the country each year.

At the same time, KVIFF organizers will also offer a virtual version of the “KVIFF Eastern Promises” presentation, in which films in various stages of development and production can be presented to international buyers and festivals.

Those projects will be from Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa.

The festival has also joined the YouTube project We Are One: A Global Film Festival.

The 55th annual Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will now take place on July 2-10, 2021.

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.

Prague Public Transport Company (DPP) announced today to have resumed the operation of the cable car in the Prague Zoo.

At the same time, it will increase the operation of bus line No. 112, leading to the Zoo and Botanical Gardens. However, the cable car to Petřín will reopen on 11 May.

In connection with the gradual increase in the number of public transport passengers, ticket inspectors came back to work on Monday, April 27.

DPP has so far partially deployed them for other jobs related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as filling and distributing disinfectants in the metro stations.

The Museum of Public Transport plans to reopen on Saturday, June 13, while the historic tram line 41 should resume on Saturday, May 16.

From today, shops the size of up to 2,500 square meters that have their own entrance and are not located in large shopping centers are free to reopen, as are driving schools, gyms and fitness centers, although without the use of showers and changing rooms.

The number of coronavirus cases in the Czech Republic reached 7404 on Monday morning, up by 52 on Sunday, the smallest daily increase since March 14.

Over 2,500 people have recovered, 221 people have died.

Prague’s airport said Saturday it had seen off several recent attempts to hack its IT network.

In a statement sent to Reuters, an airport spokesperson said that “attempted attacks on web pages of the airport were detected in preparatory phase … that prevented their spreading and all further phases that could have followed and potentially harm the company.”

A hospital in the city of Karlovy Vary in the west of the country was also attacked overnight on Saturday, according to Reuters.

The Czech cybersecurity agency Núkib on Thursday warned the country is expecting “a large-scale campaign of severe cyber attacks” targeting health care institutions in particular.

Two hospitals in the Czech Republic reported attempted attacks on their computer systems on Friday, a day after the country’s cybersecurity watchdog said it expected a wave of cyberattacks on the country’s critical infrastructure.

Responding to the Czech warning, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday released a statement saying the United States had “zero tolerance” for malicious cyber activity designed to undermine efforts against the global pandemic. “Anyone that engages in such action should expect consequences,” he said.

“Such activity against critical civilian infrastructure is deeply irresponsible and dangerous.”

“I do hope that our experts will find out who is interested in the Czech Republic [losing] to this [disease],” tweeted Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček.

On March 13, the main hospital in Brno has been forced to cancel all planned operations and farm out acute patients to other hospitals after falling victim to a major cyber attack.

Hackers ranging from cybercriminals to government-backed spies are thought to have been targeting businesses, governments and healthcare organizations with attempts to steal sensitive information related to the new coronavirus outbreak.

The long-planned renovation of Wenceslas Square has started.

“The revitalization started on the lower part of Wenceslas Square, roughly from Mustek to the Ambassador Hotel,” said Deputy Mayor Petr Hlaváček (TOP 09). He added that works next year will continue to the intersection with Jindřišská Street.

In the framework of the renovation, the sidewalk in the square will be expanded by 25% to 17 meters at the expense of 70 parking spaces, which will leave only 20 parking spaces at the square. The renovation plan includes water sprinklers and recharging stations for electric vehicles.

Furthermore, by the Koruna palace, an additional row of trees will be planted and plane trees will be added to the current lime trees.

The aim is to completely redesign the area to meet urban-design and architecture requirements, including relocation of underground water, gas and electricity lines.

Only delivery vehicles or vehicles with special permission will be allowed through and the space through which any car will be able to go will be narrowed.

Due to the size and the complexity of the space, construction work is planned in two stages.

A proposal to renovate the square by Jakub Cigler Architekti won a competition organized by Prague 1 City Hall in 2005. Its roots go back even earlier. The project originated when Václav Havel was president and Jan Kasl was mayor, from 1998 to 2002.

The company Hochtief CZ won the competitive tender with a bid price of approximately 326 million CZK without VAT.

The Wenceslas square was constructed in the mid-14th century and originally served as a horse market. This square witnessed many historical events, such as the declaration of Czech Independence in 1918, the Soviet invasion of 1968, the key shaking during the velvet revolution of 1989, and so on.

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