Slovakia orders a curfew and embarks on its COVID experiment

High turnout in testing in four northern districts, decision awaited on extending the project to the nation. Prison for a prominent prosecutor and parliament's speaker injured.

Waiting for the results of COVID tests during the pilot phase of the nationwide testing in the town of Nižná in Orava, northern Slovakia. Waiting for the results of COVID tests during the pilot phase of the nationwide testing in the town of Nižná in Orava, northern Slovakia. (Source: Sme - Jozef Jakubčo)

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Northern districts showed up

In four of the Slovak districts hit hardest by the pandemic in the past weeks, people took to their local schools, gyms, municipal offices and houses of culture this weekend. Tens of thousands turned up to get their coronavirus test within the pilot phase of the nationwide testing, a bold but much-questioned project that the Slovak government announced less than one week before.

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The testing is just one part of the plan that also involves a curfew with exceptions for those who test negative in the first two weekends of November, when the project is expected to be extended across all 79 districts of the country.

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