November 18, local time, Slovak Prime Minister Hegel announced that due to the surge in the number of new confirmed cases and hospitalizations in a single day, the health system was overwhelmed. The Slovak government decided to impose a “ban” measure on those who were not vaccinated against the coronavirus from November 22.
After the new regulations take effect, those who are not vaccinated can only go to stores selling daily necessities, do not enter or leave service institutions, cultural and sports leisure and entertainment places, and participate in group activities; those who are not vaccinated need to undergo coronavirus tests twice a week to enter the workplace.
Hegel said that the above measures are temporary and are expected to last for 3 weeks. If the epidemic situation improves by then, the government will consider relaxing restrictions on those who are not vaccinated. Vaccinations and those recovering from COVID-19 in the past 180 days are not subject to the new regulations.
Slovakia has a total population of about 550,000, and the recent increase in infections is about 8000. At the same time, Slovakia has one of the lowest coronavirus vaccination rates in the EU.
According to the European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Slovakia’s vaccination rate is currently only 45%, far lower than the EU average of 64.9%.
Due to the sharp deterioration of the epidemic situation, the Slovak medical system is currently under great pressure, and hospital ventilators and emergency beds are in extreme shortage.
