Czechia drops Covid-related entry rules for Ukrainians in danger

High levels of neutralizing antibodies against Covid persist for three months after the booster dose, according to interim results of a Czech study presented by the company Podané ruce (Helping Hands). The research is based on people who received a booster dose of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in Brno last November. "Our company has been drawing attention to the importance of the third dose since last spring, especially for seniors. … We also know that revaccination provides relatively reliable protection against the Omicron variant, even if it bypasses vaccination more than the previous variant," Podané ruce director Jindřich Vobořil. About half of those examined had neutralizing antibodies before the booster. One month and three months after the booster dose, all participants had antibodies in excess of 90 percent.  

The Covid-related restrictions and duties, which Czechia requires from third states' nationals on their entry, will newly not apply to Ukrainians and those in Ukraine and arriving in Czechia due to the Russian invasion, Health Minister Vlastimil Válek said after agreeing with the foreign and interior ministers. "I have signed a special protective measure that lifts the entry ban and all duties related to the rules aimed against the spread of the Covid-19 disease for the persons who enter Czechia from Ukraine after leaving the latter due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine," Válek wrote.

Ukrainians and also Czech and EU citizens threatened by the armed conflict in Ukraine will not have to fill in the passenger locator form, nor will they have to produce a Covid test result or a certificate proving their vaccination or past infection, the ministry said. "The enabling of Czech entry without the restricting conditions, and thereby a softer approach to the people endangered by the international armed conflict that has hit Ukraine, is a necessity that is more significant and urgent than the securing of their meeting of epidemiological rules," the ministry wrote.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Thursday recommended that children over 12 years of age receive a booster dose of Pfizer / BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. It also recommended approval of Moderna's vaccine for use in children aged 6 to 11. The recommendations will be followed by a final decision by the European Commission. The move comes after several European Union countries have started offering Pfizer booster doses to adolescents. For example, in the Czech Republic, people aged 12 to 18 can apply for boosters since the end of January.

The current Covid wave should last until the end of March, but the fight against Covid will not be won. Ladislav Dušek, director of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics (ÚZIS), said it is certain that the virus will return in the autumn. What form it will take is not known. At a round table of hospital directors in Brno, he said there are two scenarios for the autumn. Without further vaccination, those who have been vaccinated will lose the acquired immunity, and Omicron may cause a stronger wave than now. A second possibility is that a new variant of the virus will come, which will create a stronger wave. He urged vigilance in continuing vaccination for the fall.

The number of people at mass events in Czechia will no longer be limited as of March 1. This applies to both seated and standing events. Currently, seated events can have 1,000 people plus up to 50 percent of the additional venue capacity. Events where people are not seated can now have up to 500 people.

Aside from in public transport and at health and social care facilities, people will probably not have to wear respirators as of March 13, Health Minister Vlastimil Válek announced. The obligation to cover one's mouth and nose should be lifted at most other places where respirators are currently required within the anti-Covid measures. Respirators are now required at indoor spaces such as shops, services, cinemas, and government offices. They are required in pubs and restaurants when people are not eating or drinking.

Weekly Covid testing at health and social care facilities should end as of March 13. Now, the staff of health and social care facilities have to get tested for Covid-19 with an antigen test conducted by a professional once a week. The Health Ministry's website says that this does not concern the vaccinated, people who recovered in the past 180 days, and those with a valid and negative PCR test. Clients of inpatient facilities as well as visitors should test for Covid now, too. This obligation should expire on March 13.The obligation to test for Covid has already ended at schools and at work.

People with public insurance will be eligible for one PCR test for free in March. It will not require an order form signed by a doctor or a public health officer and the test will be covered by the public health insurance. Currently, people may use up to five PCR tests paid for by their health insurance company. The tests ordered by doctors and public health officers will remain free of charge. Health Minister Vlastimil Válek said the reduced number of free preventive tests goes hand in hand with the anti-epidemic measures being lifted. However, for social and health reasons, one preventive PCR test per person will be still available. People may use it when worried about being Covid-infected or before a visit to a facility that requires a negative test result.

Ladislav Dušek, the director of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics (ÚZIS), said the current wave of covid caused by the Omicron variant has culminated. Further escalations or congestion of hospitals are unlikely, he told the lower house’s Health Committee on Wednesday.

The Czech government approved the donation of almost 4 million doses of the Covid vaccines, the Government Office announced in a press release. Czechia will donate the vaccines to other countries through the Team Europe EU initiative and the COVAX mechanism, founded by the World Health Organization (WHO). "This is a total of 1.95 million doses of vaccines from Astra Zeneca and Janssen, which are no longer vaccinated in the Czech Republic, and two million doses of vaccines from BioNTech / Pfizer and Moderna, which are now in abundance in the Czech Republic and are in danger of expiration," the Government Office said. This gift is worth CZK 1.16 billion.

Slovakia will soften its Covid restrictions as of Saturday, with a certificate confirming vaccination, past infection, or a negative test result no longer needed for entry to facilities and attendance of events, the cabinet decided. People’s entry to accommodation facilities, fitness and wellness centers, and restaurants will be without any restrictions as of the weekend. Slovakia will soften the measures two days earlier than originally heralded by Prime Minister Eduard Heger. Home quarantine for the pupils who came in contact with a Covid-positive classmate will be canceled as well. The capacity of mass events and some facilities will remain limited. Another phase of relaxation is scheduled for March 26.

The obligation to wear respirators on buses, trams, and trains could stop at the end of April, according to epidemiologist Rastislav Maďar, who is a member of the National Institute for Pandemic Management. "It is possible that in the metro it could be a bit longer than in overground transport," Maďar said, according to news server iDnes. This also corresponds with the statement by Health Minister Vlastimil Válek that all measures will end before Easter (April 17), except for respirators in public transport.

The head of the National Institute for Pandemic Management, Roman Chlíbek, said the gradual abandonment of the obligation to wear respirators should begin in mid-March. "I can be the first to imagine that it will first apply to shops and restaurants, on the contrary, public transport, and mass events would be last," Chlíbek said. "In public transport, even if you want to, you are not able to keep your distance from others. You can keep a gap in the store," Chlíbek said.

Czechs traveling to Germany should check the conditions in the neighboring country in connection with the Covid epidemic. In Germany, it is still mandatory to prove vaccination or confirmation of recovery from Covid in the last 90 days. It is also necessary to fill in the arrival form in advance, the Bavaria-Bohemia Information Center in Plzeň said. Many Czechs believe that it is no longer necessary in Germany after the abolition of the obligation to submit a certificate in the Czech Republic. But they face possible sanctions for failure to comply. Czechs have now started to visit Bavaria a lot for skiing in Bavaria and spas. In Germany, all major quarantine measures against Covid will gradually end by March 20.

The Czech government today should discuss a plan to limit the reimbursement of preventive PCR tests for Covid. The government intends to end the reimbursement of PCR tests from health insurance from March. People use these tests, for example, for prevention or when traveling. Only tests based on a request from a doctor or hygiene station would remain free. Health Minister Vlastimil Válek stated last week that he will negotiate with insurance companies to pay for one preventive PCR test per month.

The Czech Republic ranks ninth in terms of the total number of confirmed coronavirus deaths per million inhabitants, at 3,574 as of Feb. 22, according to ourworldindata.org. Peru has the highest number at 6,284, followed by Bulgaria at 5,101, Bosnia and Herzegovina at 4,697, Hungary at 4,494, Northern Macedonia at 4,280, Montenegro at 4,245, Georgia at 3,992, and Croatia at 3,643. According to Johns Hopkins University, the death toll from Covid-19 worldwide exceeded 5.9 million yesterday.

Slovakia today will end the state of emergency that its government declared in November 2021. The number of new Covid cases has been decreasing according to the latest data of the National Health Information Centre. The need to present the certificate of vaccination or recovery from Covid when entering some services and public events will be canceled as well as capacity limitations at public events. The government had limited the free movement of people and banned public gatherings, but those measures and some other restrictions have already been relaxed.

The Health Ministry expects the vaccination with the new protein-based Nuvaxovid vaccine from Novavax vaccine to start in the Czech Republic in early March. The country is still waiting for the first supply of some 130,000 doses from the producer. "We have received information that the supply to Europe will be delayed by a few days," ministry spokesman Ondřej Jakob said. Deputy Health Minister Josef Pavlovic told Czech Radio that the first supply should arrive in the country this week. Some 8,000 people have registered for the Novavax vaccination so far. As soon as the vaccine arrives, the ministry will inform them about the vaccination points where they can make an appointment.

Nuvaxovid is a protein-based vaccine, containing spike protein manufactured in a laboratory. The ministry believes the people who fear the more modern mRNA vaccines might get inoculated with it. The recombinant S protein that provokes a reaction of the immunity system, is being manufactured near Prague. However, the vaccine is completed abroad.

Entrepreneurs and Christmas market organizers will be able to claim compensation for the coronavirus pandemic from March 1 to April 1. CZK 450 million has been set aside for them. Contributions to vendors will be calculated based on the number of stalls and days of restriction. They will be able to get a maximum of CZK 330,000. The state will reimburse up to 80 percent of the costs incurred by the organizers, up to CZK 5 million. The Ministry of Industry and Trade published details of the compensation on its website yesterday.

The Czech economy lost 4 percent of its gross domestic product and 14 percent of its industrial production last year due to supply chains disrupted by the Covid pandemic, CNN-Prima TV reported. This impact is roughly double that of the euro-paying countries, according to the current analysis by the International Monetary Fund. The country lost CZK 240 billion in the unrealized volume of production of goods and services. Public budgets collected about CZK 80 billion in taxes less than would be the case in normal. If the global supply chains disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic returned to normal as early as last year, the Czech economy would grow by 7.3 percent.  

Czech President Miloš Zeman signed an amendment to the pandemic law that widens the measures against coronavirus and extends the validity of the legislation till the end of November, Zeman's spokesman Jiří Ovčáček told reporters Monday. In the Chamber of Deputies, the debate on the amendment was obstructed by opposition lawmakers Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), for hours.

Under the amendment to the pandemic law, restrictions can be applied to a broader group of activities, and authorities can order testing of business people, students, pupils, and pre-school children, and not just employees and other workers. The public health protection bodies will be able to order isolation or quarantine by phone or in an SMS message, and the defense and interior ministries will be able to issue measures for their sectors as well.

The legislation was passed at the time the government Prime Minister Petr Fiala is loosening coronavirus restrictions. Government officials describe the law as a safeguard for possible further waves of the coronavirus epidemic that might develop in autumn. The SPD has warned that it will file a complaint with the Constitutional Court about the legislation.

Corporate testing for Covid in the Czech Republic revealed almost 172,700 positive antigen tests and the positive results of over 85,000 of them were confirmed by PCR tests, as over 58 percent of people had their results checked, Health Ministry spokesman Ondřej Jakob said. In total, over 84 percent of positive results from home test kits have been confirmed by the more precise and reliable PCR method.

Mandatory testing in companies ended on Friday, Feb. 18, after a month. Even though the figures might be still updated, no major changes are expected, the ministry said.

Health insurance companies will pay almost CZK 3.5 billion for Covid testing in January and part of February this year, according to Echo.cz. That equals 38 percent of last year's testing costs. The Czech Association of Health Insurers said they cannot afford these expenses. The insurers are in favor of not paying for public health insurance testing, with the exception of tests ordered by a doctor. The association, which covers 4.7 million insured persons, stated that in the first year of the covid epidemic, insurance companies spent CZK 2.8 billion on testing. Last year's testing will cost CZK 9.2 billion. This year, the main costs have been blanket antigen testing at employers, which ended last week, and preventive PCR tests, now mainly used for travel.

While the Czech Republic's color-coded "traffic light" map remains largely unchanged, its impact has been altered. As of today, the map will only apply to the entry of foreigners into the Czech Republic, according to a press release issued by the Czech Health Ministry on Friday. Regarding those to whom the map will no longer apply, the Health Ministry press release refers to Czech "citizens." Based on the terminology used in previous regulations, however, it can be presumed that the change also applies to all holders of a Czech residence permit. Read our full story here.

Up to 500 people may now attend mass events instead of 100. For seated events, the capacity has increased from the previous 1,000 to 1,000 plus half the seats to the maximum capacity of the space where the event takes place. Masks are still required indoors. The policy of “work quarantine” for medical facilities, residential social services, and school facilities for children has ended. It was intended to keep enough staff during the Omicron wave. The rules took effect on Feb. 19.

People who have had risky contact with infected people won’t need to isolate. This will end the tracing of contacts. Those who have a positive Covid test will have to stay at home longer. Isolation in asymptomatic people will end automatically after seven days, instead of the previous five. For people with symptoms, isolation will end two days after symptoms end, but isolation will not be less than seven days. The new rules took effect on Feb.19. People who have a repeat positive PCR test in less than 30 days do not need to isolate.

As of today, passengers on Prague and regional buses and older tram models will be able to enter through the front door again and use the first row of seats. The obligation to have the mouth and nose covered by a respirator in public transport, including in stations, remains valid. On city bus and tram lines, drivers will continue to open doors automatically where vehicles stop. Request bus stops are maintained in order to ensure bus and tram connections according to current timetables. Weekend metro schedules will return to normal on Feb. 26. Full operation of bus service should begin March 21.

According to cardiologists, patients skipped up to half of the preventive check-ups in doctor’s offices during the coronavirus epidemic. They thus neglect the prevention of heart and vascular diseases, which have long accounted for up to 40 percent of deaths in the Czech Republic and are the most common cause, according to the Czech Society of Cardiology.