Vladimír Lengvarský (source: TASR)
Measures at the borders will not change, but they could become “just a bit stricter”.
These are the words of Health Minister Vladimír Lengvarský after the Constitutional Court suspended the ordinance which divided incomers into vaccinated and unvaccinated.
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One of the main objections of the court, which only decides on whether the ordinance is in compliance with the Constitution, was that it exempts people who have received only the first dose of a two-dose vaccine from quarantine.
Lengvarský suggested that the new rules should not distinguish between people who have received only one dose and unvaccinated people, the TASR newswire reported.
People who were vaccinated before July 9 and cannot be categorised as fully vaccinated should be able to take a PCR test covered by the state right after their arrival from abroad. They can end quarantine once they receive a negative result.
The new ordinance was published on July 16 and will take effect on July 19, 6:00.
This measure will apply for a transitional period of 14 days from the planned effectiveness of the ordinance (until August 9 August 2).
Slovakia will thus not return to the traffic light system which divided countries into green, red and black. Quarantine for unvaccinated people will stay in place.
According to Lengvarský, the court's decision is factually correct. "We will have to find a way now because the measures will continue to apply under the same regime. We will have to abolish the measure that people who are vaccinated with the first dose do not have to go into quarantine. We need to find a way to return those who have already left and to allow them to return without having to go into quarantine," he said, as quoted by TASR.
The new ordinance changes the definition of a fully vaccinated person to the following:
A person who received the second dose of a two-dose vaccine at least 14 days but no more than 12 months prior to travelling
A person who received the first dose of a single-dose vaccine at least 21 days but no more than 12 months prior to travelling
A person who received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at least 14 days but no more than 12 months prior to travelling if the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine was given within 180 days after they have recovered from Covid-19.
