News digest: Constitutional court suspends new border rules

Good evening. Check out the main news of the day in less than five minutes in the Wednesday, July 14 edition ofToday in Slovakia. We wish you a pleasant read.

Questions over border regime

Illustrative stock photo (source: TASR)

The Constitutional Court suspended the effectiveness of the Public Health Authority (ÚVZ) ordinance that changed the rules for travelling across borders.

Under the ordinance, vaccinated people did not have to self-isolate upon arrival in Slovakia regardless of the country they were coming from. Unvaccinated people had to self-isolate until receiving a negative PCR test result. The test could be taken no sooner than the fifth day after arrival.

The court has yet to decide whether the ordinance is in compliance with the Slovak Constitution. At the same time, the court renewed the validity and effectiveness of the ÚVZ decree in June, which, in the case of quarantine measures when entering Slovakia, classifies countries as green, red and black according to the travel traffic light system.

Slovakia all green from next week

All of Slovakia will follow the same anti-epidemic measures. Every district will be classified as green, which is the best possible tier in the seven-degree Covid automat warning system.

This means that people will enjoy the most freedom since the system was put into place. There are still limits for mass events, including weddings and funeral receptions. Also, masks are obligatory indoors and at mass events outdoors.

A health analyst working under the Health Ministry, Matej Mišík, pointed out that the number of new Covid-19 cases is starting to grow slowly. Therefore, some measures must stay in place as the ministry expects more cases of the coronavirus to be imported from abroad.

Coronavirus and vaccination news

(source: TASR)

President Zuzana Čaputová approved the proposal to provide financial rewards for vaccination against Covid. She signed an amendment on some extraordinary financial measures linked to the spread of the virus. The financial reward should be given in form of a lottery and mediation bonus.
The Delta variant may have similar symptoms to a regular cold, the Health Ministry warns. These include a headache, sore throat, increased temperature, cough, nose discharge, and diarrhea.

Photo of the day

Olympic and Paralympic athletes and members of the Slovak expedition to the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo took the solemn vow in the Presidential Palace garden in Bratislava alongside President Zuzana Čaputová.

(source: TASR)

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Feature story for today

On hot days inhabitants and visitors of Bratislava can cool down in open-air swimming pools, lakes and even in the Danube.

A visit to summer swimming pools in Bratislava is permitted without capacity restrictions as of July 12.

In other news

The new State Secretary of Investments Ministry is Ján Hargaš, who previously worked with Slovensko.Digital.
Year-on-year price growth accelerated in June to 2.9 percent from 2.2 percent in May. This is the highest rate since February 2020, according to the Statistics Office. Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices grew year-on-year to 1.4 percent for the first time this year.
The minimum wage in Slovakia is to grow by €23 to €646 next year, Labour Minister Milan Krajniak said after the Cabinet session on Wednesday. Social partners failed to agree on its development so the minister will apply the statutory formula, according to which the minimum wage shall represent 57 percent of the average wage in Slovakia from two years ago.
Charter flights will resume operation starting July 25 at Piešťany airport. The first will fly to Turkish Antalya. Connections should run every week on Sunday, according to the interest and development of the pandemic, until the end of September.
The government approved the creation of three protected compounds in Slovakia – Upper Stream Chotčianka, Upper Stream Výrava, two natural reservations – Brezové and Pokoradzské jazierka - and the national natural reservation Plavno. They will obtain the status of protected areas on August 1.
The keeping of large felines, bears and primates should be banned in Slovakia. Their private and commercial breeding should be regulated according to an amendment submitted to the Environment Ministry for interdepartmental review.
April and May were extremely strong when it comes to refinancing mortgages. According to the National Bank of Slovakia, April was the second-strongest period since 2016; 1.16 percent of the existing portfolio was repaid early. There is a strong fight for clients on the market, with Prima banka, 365th bank and Poštová banka being particularly active.