Speaking on Sunday, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš confirmed that the government will not ask the Chamber of Deputies to renew the state of emergency past April 11th, meaning restrictions on movement between districts and at night will end the following day. Photo: Prime Minister Andrej Babiš at the cabinet meeting on March 29. Credit: Vlada.cz.
Czech Rep., Apr 5 (BD) – The state of emergency in the Czech Republic related to the coronavirus pandemic will end in April after over six months. In an interview with Nova TV on Sunday, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) confirmed that the government will not ask the Chamber of Deputies to extend the state of emergency again when it expires on April 11th, meaning that the night curfew will end, along with the ban on travel between districts. According to Babiš, any further measures will be imposed using the Pandemic Law.
The current state of emergency in the Czech Republic has been ongoing since October 5th last year, and has been extended several times. Most of the government’s anti-coronavirus restrictions are linked to the state of emergency, and restrictions on the free movement of people depend entirely on it. The reopening of schools, pubs, restaurants, shops, and so on has not yet been announced and is unlikely to be immediate.
Travel outside the district of residence has been strictly limited in the Czech Republic since the beginning of March due to the severe epidemiological situation, with exceptions for work, health, and other essential reasons. A curfew has been in place between 9pm and 5am for several months.
The number of new daily confirmed cases of coronavirus has been steadily decreasing in recent weeks, and this week there have been an average of 5,838 newly confirmed cases per day, though over 6,000 people are still in hospital. The reproduction number is currently 0.76, the lowest since January 18th.
