Coronavirus update, April 30, 2021: All shops to reopen May 10, restaurant gardens could follow a week later

The remaining shops that aren’t already open and some more services should reopen on May 10. The exceptions are restaurants, casinos, wellness, and other most epidemiologically risky establishments. The restaurant gardens will open on May 17 at the earliest, the government said. No target date for indoor dining has been mentioned yet. Other services such as hairdressers, barbershops, pedicures, manicures, and similar services will open May 3, with either a PCR test that is not older than seven days, or an antigen test that is be older than 72 hours. The antigen test can also be from work or school. It is also allowed to perform a self-test in the establishment. People will also be able to enter the service with a certificate of vaccination or Covid-19 in the last 90 days.

Museums, galleries, and heritage sites can open in six out of the Czech Republic's 14 regions and in the capital Prague as of May 3 under strict sanitary rules, the cabinet decided based on the favorable epidemiological situation in the given regions. On Monday already, the cabinet gave the green light to these cultural institutions' reopening in the Karlovy Vary, Plzeň, and Hradec Králové regions. Yesterday, it additionally approved the reopenings in Prague, Central Bohemia, Liberec, and Pardubice. The institutions can let in a limited number of visitors that does not exceed one person per 15 square meters. People have to observe social distancing and wear a respirator. Group tours are banned. Culture Minister Lubomír Zaorálek said outdoor performances might resume as of the end of May or June, but theaters' indoor premises are unlikely to reopen by the end of June, which is the end of the theater season.

Czech elementary schools will reopen to the sixth to ninth graders in seven regions including Prague as of Monday, May 3, in the rotation regime, with classes weekly alternating on regular and distance learning. Apart from the Karlovy Vary, Plzeň, and Hradec Králové regions, which reopened earlier, the reopening has newly received a green light in the Central Bohemia, Liberec, and Pardubice regions, and Prague. Kindergartens will also reopen to all children in these regions, the cabinet decided. These grades and kindergartens will reopen in the remaining seven regions on May 10, Education Minister Robert Plaga said after the cabinet meeting. School staff and students of elementary school lower grades would undergo antigen testing for Covid-19 only once a week. Now they are tested twice a week. However, students of upper grades will be tested twice a week, Plaga said. The first through fifth grades of primary school have been open as of April 12. All university students will be able to return to practical, laboratory, experimental, and artistic teaching from May 10.

Prague sanitary officers have recorded the first case of Indian coronavirus mutation in a man from India, the public health office said yesterday. Before, there was a suspected case in Hradec Králové region. The man in whom the Indian mutation was confirmed, had fever and the pain in his muscles and head. No other health problems have been revealed, the office said. Immediately upon finding the Indian mutation, the Prague public health office launched a detailed epidemiological survey, looking for potential risk contacts to prevent the mutation from further spreading. Since Tuesday, there has been the ban to travel to India, which was blacklisted for extreme risk of spreading novel coronavirus mutations.

The Czech Finance Ministry will give CZK 50 million to universities for Covid-19 testing, the cabinet decided, meeting the Education Ministry's proposal. The rest of the testing's costs, which the ministry estimates at CZK 80 million until the end June, will be paid to universities by the ministry. The estimate is based on the fact that some 40,000 students attend the practical, laboratory, experimental and artistic lectures which universities, otherwise closed over coronavirus, resumed for last year students since April 26. If the university lockdown is further loosened, as expected amid the improving epidemiological situation, public universities will reopen to even more students and will need about 125,000 tests for students in all study years.

There were 2,216 new Covid cases in the Czech Republic on Thursday, 413 fewer than a week ago and the smallest workday number since late September, according to Health Ministry data. Some 72,843 vaccine doses were applied, the record high daily number since the vaccination start. The previous daily record was 72,490 doses on April 15. On Thursday, there were 146 new cases per 100,000 population in seven days. The numbers of newly infected have been falling in the Czech Republic in the past weeks. Since early April, there have been on average 3,137 new confirmed cases a day, while there were only 2,179 per day in the past seven days. The March average number was 9,660 a day. The reproduction number, showing how many people are infected by one positively tested person, slightly fell from 0.88 to 0.87. It has been under 1.00 for the 16th day in a row, meaning the pandemic is receding.