As of Thursday, a lockdown, curfew as well as a 90 day state of emergency started in Slovakia, the government decided in response to the situation concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdown will be in place in Slovakia for two weeks and will be evaluated in 10 days. State borders remain open. Restaurants and shops in Slovakia will be closed with the exception of grocery shops, drug stores and pharmacies.
These services will also be available:
- takeaway sale of food in restaurants
- banks
- insurance companies
- car repair shops
- e-shop dispensaries
- key service
- opticians
- mobile phone repairs
- spas for health reasons
- dry cleaning
In accordance with the curfew exceptions, people are allowed to leave home:
- from 1AM to 5AM
- to buy essentials like goods, footwear, animal feed, fuel, newspapers
- to commute to and from work with a confirmation from the employer
- for vaccination and testing on Covid-19, from 5AM to 8PM
- to go into the countryside within the district
- for the purpose of caring for livestock
- to walk dogs and cats within 500 meters of their residence
- to provide care for close ones
- for the purpose of health care and also to accompany close ones
- on the way to and from school and kindergarten
- to attend funeral of a close one, marriage, baptism from 5AM to 8PM
The Government strongly recommends home-office. As of next week, only vaccinated employees and those who overcame COVID-19 in the last 180 days will be allowed access to workplaces, and the rest are to undertake mandatory tests for the disease once a week. The frequency of testing can be shortened if the pandemic situation deteriorates.
Schools in Slovakia remain open and all students will have to wear face masks. Regional public health officers will decide on the closure of schools based on their individual situation.
The council of health experts suggested tougher restrictions – a three week lockdown and to restrict teaching in classrooms from November 25 to December 3 for pupils in the second stage of primary school, high school students and university students. All children's extracurricular activities should also have been scrapped. According to them, only full-time teaching at the first level of primary schools and in kindergartens should be preserved.
According to Economy Minister Richard Sulík schools will be the last to close thanks to his Freedom and Solidarity, which party used veto. Sulík stressed that the fact that the schools are open is not the responsibility of Prime Minister Eduard Heger but theirs.
