Slovakia records another high in daily coronavirus cases, Bratislava to tighten restrictions

Slovakia records another high in daily coronavirus cases, Bratislava to tighten restrictions

On Wednesday, a record number of 6,713 new cases of coronavirus were reported in Slovakia, with a positivity rate of up to 30%. The number of hospital admissions continues to rise sharply, with over a hundred patients admitted to hospital on Wednesday. Currently there are 1890 patients with covid-19 in Slovak hospitals. The daily high so far in the third wave (autumn 2021) has been 5,361 positives from Tuesday, November 2nd; the all time high for the entire pandemic was 6,315 from late December 2020.

A total of 36 districts will be considered ‘black’ according to the COVID-19 automaton as of next Monday (8 Nov), while 34 will be treated as ‘dark red’, seven ‘red’ and only two districts ‘orange’. Bratislava will move into the ‘red’ category - a first-degree warning. According to Bratislava’s mayor, Matus Vallo, red is also the worst colour Bratislava could be in, as the high vaccination rate in the 50+ age category should improve the colour of the automaton traffic lights by two degrees.

What does the change in the colour mean for life in Bratislava? According to the mayor, nothing will be closing and all services that are operating in the "Fully Vaccinated" mode will see no restrictions. For those operating in the "OTP" mode (vaccinated – tested – recovered), their capacity will generally drop to half and there will be a maximum capacity of 150 people for outdoor mass events for “OTP”. The "basic" mode (no controls) will be cancelled for several events and operations (e.g. fitness, pools, lodging). According to Vallo, the city’s transition to the red phase will therefore mainly affect unvaccinated people who will no longer be able to go to restaurants, gyms, etc. without a test or confirmation that they have recovered from Covid. Another new feature will be that a respirator will now be compulsory indoors instead of facemasks.

Health Minister Vladimír Lengvarsky admitted on Wednesday that the country is approaching a point at which it will have to toughen up its anti-coronavirus measures. The minister indicated that the pandemic in the worst-affected districts could be dealt with “differently”. This would take place “via stricter checks and measures that will be adopted by regional hygienists”.

According to Prime Minister Eduard Heger, people vaccinated against COVID-19 should have access to selected facilities even in black districts (a third-degree warning). He added, however, that the decision will be up to a consilium of experts. At this point, Heger called on the unvaccinated to reconsider their decision, adding that this is also related to several complaints from dissatisfied entrepreneurs. According to him, Slovakia's goal is, as in other countries, to achieve a high vaccination rate and to drop some measures. The premier also does not consider it necessary to tighten up anti-epidemic measures on the state borders.

Zuzana Botiková, Photo: TASR

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