Slovakia Announces Two-week Partial Lockdown

Bratislava, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Nov, 2021 ) :Slovakia will go into partial lockdown from Thursday, with restaurants and non-essential shops to shut while schools remain open, the government said.

With some exceptions such as travel to work or school or essential shopping, people will only be allowed out of their homes at night between 1:00 am and 5:00 am.

The EU member of 5.4 million people is battling one of the world's highest Covid-19 infection rates.

Announcing the measures Wednesday, Prime Minister Eduard Heger lashed out at people who had not respected previous restrictions.

"We got into the current situation because the measures were not followed," he told reporters.

"There will always be a certain group in society that will not be happy. My job is not to satisfy everyone but to protect people's lives," he said.

The partial lockdown will come into force at midnight.

Economy Minister Richard Sulik said the government would re-evaluate the lockdown in 10 days' time.

"Schools will be the last to close. We insist that they remain open. We also agree that testing in schools should be mandatory," he said.

Slovakia registered 944 Covid cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last seven days, according to an AFP calculation based on data up to Tuesday.

That is the fifth highest Covid infection rate in the world after Austria, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Belgium.

Only 45.7 percent of the population is fully vaccinated in Slovakia.

The government had already on Monday introduced restrictions for people unvaccinated against Covid-19.

Under those restrictions, unvaccinated people were not allowed to enter stores other than those considered essential, such as grocery stores or pharmacies.