On Friday morning, Health Minister Adam Vojtech announced further relaxations of the anti-epidemic measures, to come into force on Monday, May 31st. Restaurants, bars, music clubs, swimming pools, bowling alleys, and casinos will be able to open their indoor areas to customers under certain conditions. Wellness establishments will be permitted to accept guests up to 30% of normal capacity, and mass events will be allowed with up to 250 people at a maximum of 50% occupancy. Photo Credit: Vlada.cz (Cropped).
Czech Rep., May 28 (BD) – At today’s press conference, the government announced further loosening of the covid-19 epidemic measures, following a Supreme Court ruling that the current measures are illegal under the Pandemic Act. Changes to the extraordinary measures were approved by the government at an extraordinary meeting on Friday.
On Friday morning, Health Minister Adam Vojtech announced the further relaxation of epidemic measures, to come into force on Monday. Restaurants, bars, music clubs, swimming pools, bowling alleys, and casinos will be able to open their indoor areas, closed to the public until now due to government regulations. The conditions of opening are similar to those that apply to restaurant gardens and terraces, meaning that indoor dancing and live music performances are still prohibited. The requirement of a negative covid-19 test remains for both indoor and outdoor facilities.
Customers and guests wishing to enter these indoor spaces will need to present proof of a negative test, vaccination, or a recent course of Covid-19. A self-administered antigen test used to attend school or work can also be used to enter these establishments.
Catering facilities and other services must comply with specific rules. For example, restaurants, bars, and cafes must allow no more than four people at one table, with sufficient space between them. Swimming pools, sports grounds, and casinos can allow people to enter up to one person per 15 square meters, on condition of maintaining a distance of two meters. Wellness establishments will be allowed to fill only 30% of normal capacity and saunas are prohibited to heat more than 80°C or to use crystalline cooling and ice wells.
The Ministry of Health has added a national certificate of vaccination to the conditions of entry for restaurants and other facilities. The conditions of their recognition as a proof for entry are the same as for Czech citizens, meaning 22 days should have passed from the first dose of an incomplete vaccine, 22 days to 9 months from the first dose of complete vaccine, and 14 days to 9 months for a single-dose vaccine.
The lifting of restrictions also affects mass events. From now on it will be possible to organise conferences and educational events for up to 250 people, with a maximum of 50% occupancy of the venue. Choirs can start rehearsing and perform with up to 30 participants.
The Ministry has also announced that national vaccination certificates have been added to the protective measures for entry into the Czech Republic. Those possessing such a certificate in English will not need to present a negative covid-19 test when entering the Czech Republic from Hungary, Germany, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, or Croatia; travel will be possible after the first dose of vaccination without any restrictions. In addition, Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhánek said that the Czech Republic would be open to fully vaccinated tourists from Israel, Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea from Tuesday.
