Forbes names Prague Christmas markets among Europe's safest, but will they even take place this year?

In an article published by Forbes this week that highlights safe European destinations for this Christmas COVID-19 season, local readers may be surprised to read that Prague's Christmas markets have been selected among the "15 coronavirus-safest Christmas trips" in Europe for 2020.

The Czech capital's Christmas markets are routinely included on lists of the world's best. But the surging COVID-19 epidemic in Prague has put their very existence in 2020 in jeopardy, and questions their placement on a 2020 "safe" list.

The Forbes article is purportedly based on rankings from European Best Destinations. But on a nearly identical list on European Best Destinations, Prague is conspicuously absent.

We'll give both publications the benefit of the doubt; perhaps an earlier version of the European Best Destinations list had included Prague -- things were looking differently in the Czech Republic just six weeks ago -- and Forbes didn't get the update.

The Czech Republic's handling of the COVID-19 situation had been exemplary for much of the spring and summer until the wheels fell off last month. Yesterday, the Czech Republic overtook Spain as Europe's most-affected country, with about 346 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the past two weeks according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

This week, the total number of reported COVID-19 cases since the start of the epidemic in the Czech Republic, population ~11 million, has surpassed the total number in China, population ~1.4 billion. Prague has led the charge, with over 800 new cases reported yesterday alone. 

So will Prague's Christmas markets be safe? Will they even take place this year?

We reached out to Taiko, which organizes Prague's Christmas markets in Old Town Square and other locations around the city through the company Trhy Praha, for comment.

"Unfortunately we can not confirm anything at this time, we do not yet know whether the Christmas markets in the center of Prague will take place," Taiko spokesperson Hana Tietze told us.

"We should know more in a month."

We might know a little more by Friday, when Czech Health Minister Roman Prymula announces further measures to curb the spread of coronavirus in the Czech Republic. Those measures are expected to be increasingly restrictive, given recent developments, though it is unknown if they might affect the operation of outdoor markets.

Still, Taiko has been proactive in their approach in dealing with the spread of COVID-19. Recent St. Wenceslas markets in the center of Prague at Wenceslas Square and náměstí Republiky were supposed to run through September 27, but were shut down a week early due to virus concerns.

"The organizer of the celebrations, the company Taiko, a.s., has decided to take this step due to the unfavorable and deteriorating situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic," the Trhy Praha website states.

While the epidemiological situation may get better over the coming months, the future of Christmas markets in Prague, tentatively scheduled to run this holiday season from November 28 through January 6, is still very much unknown.