Bratislava, Slovakia – A two-week nationwide lock down comes into effect Thursday amid a record high surge in coronavirus cases. Slovakia’s Prime Minister, Eduard Heger says the measures will target both unvaccinated and vaccinated citizens.
Under the lock down, people can leave their homes for specific reasons, such as buying groceries, travelling to work and school, or getting vaccinated. Walking a dog is allowed within 500 meters (yards) from people’s homes. Non-essential businesses, such as bars and restaurants, will be closed. Those who are unvaccinated will be required to take a test or show proof that they have had COVID-19 in order to get to work.
Slovakia was regarded as an early pandemic success story, managing to flatten the curve in May 2020. The country managed to avoid much of the COVID-19′ first wave by implementing mask mandates, border restrictions, and citizens following a strict lock down.
This lock down comes 3 days after neighbouring country, Austria went into lock down to also combat high rates of infection. The Slovak Health Minister, Ján Porubský said daily infections surpassed 10,000 for the first time, with 10,315 testings positive on Tuesday. That’s over 1,000 more than the previous record registered Friday.
Slovakia has just over 45 percent of its nation fully vaccinated. They are ranked third lowest in vaccination rates in the European Union.
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Update:CORRECTS: That lockdown becomes effective Thursday, not
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Slovakia approves 2-week nationwide lockdown as virus surges@
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – The Slovak government has approved a
two-week national lockdown amid a record surge of coronavirus
infections. Prime Minister Eduard Heger said the measures that
become effective on Thursday will target all, both unvaccinated and
vaccinated. Under the lockdown, people can leave their homes only
for some specific reasons. These include buying essential goods,
traveling to work and school or to get vaccinated. Walking a dog is
allowed within 500 meters (yards) from people’s homes. The lockdown
was announced Wednesday. The announcement came after Slovakia set
another record for coronavirus infections. The Health Ministry said
daily infections surpassed 10,000 for the first time, with 10,315
testing positive on Tuesday. That’s over 1,000 more than the
previous record registered Friday.
(The Associated Press)
14:00ET 24-11-21
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