At an extraordinary meeting on Friday, March 26th, the Chamber of Deputies approved an extension of the State of Emergency by two weeks, until April 11th, eased the requirements for international hauliers transiting to Germany, and approved the purchase of one million antigen test kits for public sector employees. Photo: Prime Minister Andrej Babiš at the press conference on March 26. Credit: Vlada.cz.
Czech Rep., Mar 30 (BD) – At an extraordinary meeting on Friday, March 26th, the Chamber of Deputies agreed to extend the State of Emergency. Rejecting the government’s proposal for a 30-day extension, Deputies instead approved an extension of 14 days, to last until April 11th.
Proposing the extension, the government cited the persistent unfavourable epidemic situation. Despite a slight decline in the numbers of new confirmed cases and the number of cases in hospital in recent days, the caseload remains high. The government has therefore extended all existing anti-epidemic measures until April 11th. An exemption to the 9pm to 5am curfew was added for those attending religious meetings, to apply from April 1st to 3rd only, allowing congregations to attend Easter church services.
Immediately after the Easter holidays, the government will reevaluate the current measures, particularly restrictions on movement between districts and after the curfew, which were the main subject of debate during the meeting of the Chamber of Deputies.
Meanwhile, slight changes have been made to the restrictions on entry to the Czech Republic. In response to Germany removing the Czech Republic from the list of highest risk countries and allowing international land transport to enter Germany without a negative covid-19 test result, the Czech Republic has removed the requirement for a negative covid-19 test for drivers transiting via the Czech Republic to Germany.
The government has also approved the purchase of one million antigen test kits through the State Material Reserves Administration, to be used to test government employees. The purchase is the result of a tender issued by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.
