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Slovakia has already brought forward the start of a lockdown planned for next week to this Saturday. At the same time, strict curfew restrictions will go into effect at 5:00 a.m. Saturday. This was announced today by Health Minister Marek Krajci after an hour-long government meeting. Christmas shopping will thus only be possible until Friday.
Originally, all stores except for supermarkets, for example, were to remain closed for at least three weeks only from December 21. A simultaneous curfew was not included in the government’s previous plans. Krajci cited the dramatically worsening pandemic situation in the country and, above all, the threat of hospital overload as reasons for the short-term change.
High number of deaths
According to data released today by health authorities, 58 people with CoV infection died in the EU country within 24 hours. This is the highest number of deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic in March. This means that twice as many people died from the virus in Slovakia in one day than in the entire spring and summer combined. The country counts in the statistics only those deaths in which no other cause of death can be proven.
Slovakia had attracted international attention on the weekend of October 31 and November 1 with the first nationwide mass testing of almost the entire population over the age of ten. The populist-conservative head of government, Igor Matovic, had touted the mass tests as an alternative to a lockdown. The fact that the lockdown could not be prevented nevertheless, he rated today as a political defeat.
hp, Source: ORF.at/agencies. picture: pixabay.com
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