Czech and Austrian officials vow to prevent Covid-related border closings in 2022

Representatives of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam in the Czech Republic have called on people to keep united, support each other, jointly tackle the coronavirus crisis, and observe the epidemiological measures including vaccination. The religious representatives will definitively shape their joint declaration at a meeting in Prague's Trauttmansdorf Palace today, aimed to commemorate the victims of the Covid-19 pandemic that has plagued the world for two years now. Participants include Catholic priest and theologian Tomáš Halík, the Special Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Robert Řehák, the pastor for minorities Mikuláš Vymětal, Rabbi David Maxa, and Islam student Kristián Dembický.

More than 1.74 million coronavirus cases were confirmed, 111,000 Covid patients were hospitalized and over 24,000 died in the Czech Republic in 2021, according to Health Ministry data. Roughly eight in 10 infected were unvaccinated, and about the same proportion applies to the hospitalized and those who died with Covid-19. The highest Covid death toll and the number of the hospitalized with the infection was in March.

In the comparison of particular months, the highest number of the confirmed Covid-19 infections was in November, over 400,000, followed by roughly 303,000 in December, but these data are still incomplete. In March, just over 300,000 new infections were revealed, and more than 250,000 in January and February each. On the contrary, the infection was spreading the least in the summer when under 6,000 new cases were confirmed in June and August each, and slightly over 6,000 in July.

The conditions of return to the Czech Republic from selected European countries will toughen for unvaccinated Czechs as of Monday, the Health Ministry said, naming Italy, Sweden, and Malta as the countries switching to the highest-risk dark red category on traveler's map. The tougher restrictions come in reaction to the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant. The Health Ministry updates the traveler's map every week based on data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Latvia, Hungary, Austria will newly appear in the red group, instead of the current dark-red, and Romania will move from the orange moderate-risk group to the green group of countries posing a low risk of COVID infection. The Azores, now orange, will appear in the red group as of Monday. read more in our full story here.

The Czech Republic and Austria must continue to cooperate in Covid-related issues to prevent another closure of the joint borders that both countries saw in spring 2020, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský and his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg told reporters after their talks yesterday. "The situation we experienced in the spring of 2020 cannot reoccur under any circumstances," Schallenberg said after the meeting, adding that tens of thousands of people commute to Austria for work and these activities cannot be disrupted. In the coming months, Lipavský would like to hold a meeting of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria, he said.

Entrepreneurs have the last chance to apply for a loan from the Covid III and Covid Plus programs. The guarantee programs have been in operation since last spring,. The application deadline was originally scheduled to end last year. However, the European Commission has extended the temporary framework, which has allowed EU Member States to boost their economies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Based on that, the Czech government thus extended the Covid III and Plus programs first until June this year and then until Dec. 31.

Certificates on vaccination against Covid-19 will be valid for nine months only as of Feb. 1, and not as of Jan. 1 as the Czech Health Ministry originally announced. The change is based on a European Union regulation that will introduce the nine-month validity as of Feb. 1 for all member states. People will have to get re-vaccinated after nine months of the complete Covid vaccination to extend the certificate validity. The validity of the Covid certificates was first unlimited, then it was put at four years, which their holders can now see in the Czech Tečka mobile application.

Whole-genome sequencing has so far confirmed 57 cases of the Omicron Covid variant in the Czech Republic and further 108 test samples, some 0.6 percent, are suspected of it after discriminatory PCR testing last week, the National Institute of Public Health (SZÚ) said in its weekly report. The Delta variant was present in 98 percent of the positive samples. Omicron has been reported in most of the 14 regions across the Czech Republic.

The booster dose of anti-Covid vaccine will be available after five months from the previous jab to all Czechs over 18 as of Jan. 4, Health Minister Vlastimil Válek told a press conference after a government meeting yesterday. So far, most people were given the third dose six months after the previous inoculation. According to a scheme set by the former government, people aged 18–35 would get their vaccine as of Jan. 19. The new cabinet already sped up the inoculation of the age group 30–45 who may ask for the third dose as of Dec. 27.

The coronavirus wave triggered by the Omicron variant will peak in the Czech Republic in the last week of January and the first week in February, Health Minister Vlastimil Válek said at a press conference yesterday. It seems that the epidemic situation is getting better because the numbers are on the decrease. However, it is a lull before the storm, as Omicron is in the Czech Republic, Válek warned. Some regions already reported community spreading and the government is carefully preparing for that, he noted, adding he expects a high rise in numbers of the coronavirus infected. The government will speed up vaccination with the booster dose. The third jab will be available to all adults after five months from the second jab as of Jan. 4. Available data from Denmark and Britain show that the inoculation is efficient against the Omicron variant, Válek said.

Health Minister Vlastimil Válek will hold a meeting today with experts to discuss potential shortening of the isolation and quarantine period over confirmed or suspected coronavirus infection. They will deal with a shorter interval between the recovery from infection and vaccination. The government will go through the conclusions of this meeting next week and the Health Ministry will issue new anti-epidemic measures.

The government agreed with the purchase of another 14 million antigen tests for schools, This supply delivered in February and March should be sufficient for the testing twice a week. The State Material Reserves Administration (SSHR) should open the tender by Jan. 3 at the latest as the state of national emergency is not in force anymore and thus the tests cannot be bought without public competition, the government wrote in the document. The 14 million antigen test kits match the need for 10 testing rounds at all elementary and secondary schools and conservatories.  

Czech Minister of Health Vlastimil Válek said that the government hopes to impose a requirement on companies to test all their employees twice a week starting on January 17. Válek said the ideal scenario would be testing for all employees every three days. The proposal is still to be discussed with trade union representatives, so no changes are yet confirmed. Currently, only employees who have not received two doses of an approved Covid vaccine or who have not had Covid in the last six months need to be regularly tested at work. The proposed change would make testing mandatory for all except those working from home and those who do not come into contact with anyone else at work, regardless of their vaccination status.

Measures introduced by the Czech government to counter the potential impact of New Year celebrations on the pandemic situation in the Czech Republic are coming into force today. The new rules are focused on controlling parties, celebrations and other mass events as Covid numbers decline throughout the country.

From today, only four people will be allowed to sit at a single restaurant or bar table, instead of the current six. This rule does not apply to members of the same household, however. Larger tables can contain larger groups as long as a distance of 1.5 meters is maintained between separate groups of four.

A maximum of 50 people are now allowed to attend parties or celebrations, defined as public or private events in which people gather in a single location. These may include, but are not limited to, dances, festivals, house parties, parades, tastings, celebrations and pilgrimages.

Mass events have a maximum capacity of 1,000 seated people, with Covid vaccination or proof of recovery required for all attendees. Organizers must in all cases check certificates by scanning QR codes.

These rules limiting New Year celebrations will be in effect until at least January 2.

Healthcare workers in the Czech Republic have administered more than one million booster shots of the Covid-19 vaccine over the past 20 days, according to vaccination data provided by the Health Ministry.

More than 9,300 people aged 30-44 received the booster shot on Monday, which was the first day this age group could receive the booster five months after the previous one. Previously, people in this age range had to wait at least six months to receive a Covid booster shot.

On Monday, 114,000 people registered for the booster dose through the Health Ministry's website, and 90,000 of them belonged to the 30-44 age group for which the third jab was newly available, the Smart Quarantine team tweeted.

People over the age of 30 who were initially vaccinated against Covid-19 more than five months ago are now eligible to receive a booster vaccine as a new change in regulation takes effect today. Previously, only those aged 45 and older could receive a booster shot after five months, with younger people having to wait six months for a booster. The change means about 155,000 people will now have access to the vaccine a month earlier.

In total, about 6.9 million in the Czech Republic are now vaccinated against Covid or have registered for vaccination. The number represents more than 64 percent of the total population. More than two million people have already received a booster shot.

As of December 27, the rules for entering the Czech Republic have been tightened for foreign nationals without permanent or temporary residence. For these travelers, a negative PCR test is now required before entering the Czech Republic from all countries (even those green and orange on the Czech travel map). Travelers who do not have proof of vaccination or recovery from Covid-19 will also need to take another PCR test between 5-7 days after their arrival.

Those who have completed their vaccination AND had a booster shot, children aged 12-18 who have been vaccinated (no booster shot needed), and children under the age of 12 are exempt from the new measure. For Czech citizens and residents, entry requirements have not changed. After some initial confusion last week, updated entry requirements have now been published on the website of the Ministry of the Interior.

Czech President Milos Zeman called mandatory Covid vaccination the best way to combat the coronavirus epidemic in his Christmas speech on Sunday. According to a decree approved by the former Czech government, vaccination would be mandatory for selected professions and Czech residents over the age of 60 as of March; new PM Petr Fiala has stated that he wants to cancel the requirement for those over the age of 60.

"I am convinced that this is the simplest way in which to suppress the pandemic," Zeman said. The president said he was inspired by Austria, which will introduce mandatory vaccination for the entire population as of February 1.

"My viewpoint gradually changed as new coronavirus waves were coming," he added. "After all, mandatory vaccination exists for a number of diseases, and there is no reason not to add coronavirus to them. It is better to take a radical measure rather than undergoing the stages of expectations and subsequent stages of disappointment because the epidemic does not constantly fall."