(source: TASR)
Experts advising the Health Ministry propose to prolong the current lockdown by another week. The situation in Slovakia has not improved since the measures were imposed on November 25.
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The Health Ministry informed that the average daily new cases are still over 10,000, and the number of Covid patients in hospitals oscillates around 3,400. The number of Covid deaths has increased by 38 percent compared to last week.
The experts on the concilium that advises the Health Ministry on pandemic management therefore propose to prolong the lockdown until December 16.
The cabinet of Eduard Heger (OĽaNO) is expected to make the final decision at its nearest session, scheduled for Wednesday, December 8. Until then, the coalition partners will be debating the experts' proposal. The junior coalition party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) said last week they were going to be against such a proposal.
A new measure for buses and trains
The experts also recommend to intensify the checks for potential curfew violations.
They also came up with a new measure for public transport: the OTP regime, the Slovak acronym for vaccinated-tested-recovered. They recommend to introduce this limit on trains and on long-distance buses.
The experts have not mentioned any changes to rules for schools.
Interest in vaccination slightly up
Hospital admissions have increased compared to last week by 25 percent. Over the past week, hospitals admitted the average of 375 new Covid patients a day. Significant increase has been reported in western-Slovak regions of Bratislava, Trenčín, Nitra and Trnava.
The interest in the first dose of a Covid vaccine has increased, according to the ministry. In the 46th week, more than 50,000 people received their first dose, while 95,000 received the third dose.
The vaccination rate among the adult population is 58 percent, the percentage for the whole population is still below 50 percent.
