Last Week in Slovakia is a commentary and overview of news in Slovakia that The Slovak Spectator subscribers receive in their inboxes every week as part of The Slovak Spectator online subscription. Subscribers also receive a pdf with an overview of news and have access to all of our online content. By subscribing you are helping us provide news about Slovakia you can trust. Thank you.
See our graph for the latest statistics of the coronavirus in Slovakia.
Latest numbers are good. Slovakia enters exit strategy
The long-awaited plan on how Slovakia will get out of the six-week-long partial lockdown was presented to the public on Monday, and the country entered the first of the four-phase exit strategy on Wednesday. Several shops that had been closed for over a month were allowed to open again, as well as open-air marketplaces and some outdoor sports grounds. At first people older than 65 years were banned from shopping outside the time reserved for them at 9:00-11:00 on work days, but following heavy criticism, the hygienists revised the ban into a recommendation on Friday.
By Sunday noon when politicians dispersed among television debates, the numbers of those tested for COVID-19 climbed to unprecedented heights while the number of those infected was surprisingly low (only six new cases reported from Saturday’s over 4,800 tests) and Matovič cautiously admitted that as of May 6, Slovakia might be ready to enter the next phase of lifting the measures. He previously suggested that some districts might proceed opening their economy faster than others.
