(source: SME.sk / Hej,ty)
Good evening. This is the Tuesday, July 27, 2021 edition of Today in Slovakia with the main news of the day in less than five minutes. We wish you a pleasant read.
Number of vaccine-hesitant up
The number of people rejecting vaccination against Covid has significantly increased. While in May, 30.9 percent said that they did not want to be vaccinated, in July it was 36 percent. This stems from a regular “How are You, Slovakia?” poll.
“In the previous polls, there was quite a large group of respondents who were undecided on whether they wanted to be vaccinated or not,” said Robert Klobucký of the SAV Institute of Sociology, as quoted by the SITA newswire. “But the recent poll shows that the group of undecided is shrinking and many people are joining those that reject vaccination.”
Most people in Slovakia reject compulsory vaccination, according to the poll result.
At the same time, Slovakia lags behind the EU average with the rest of the EU. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that 70 percent of the adult population has received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine in the EU. In Slovakia, the rate remains just over 40 percent and the tempo of vaccination has been slowing.
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More coronavirus and vaccination news:
Authorities have confirmed 51 new coronavirus infections diagnosed using PCR tests, out of 8,694 tests.
Slovakia has so far confirmed 107 Delta variant infections, of which 56 are in the Bratislava Region. Authorities warn that early symptoms of Delta are easily mistaken for a common cold.
President Zuzana Čaputová has signed a law that allows the public health authorities to introduce milder measures for those vaccinated, tested, or recovered from Covid, which the parliament passed over the weekend. (TASR)
Finance Minister Igor Matovič received the first dose of the Sputnik V vaccine on Tuesday.
Districts with low Covid vaccination rates are more likely to see closures of schools, said Education Minister Branislav Grohling. He called on everyone in Slovakia to get vaccinated if they can. (TASR)
Featured story for today: War among the police?
One year after the Slovak police’s elite unit The National Criminal Agency (NAKA) launched a series of raids against top representatives of the Police Corps, the Financial Administration and the Slovak Information Service (SIS), the institutions involved are prosecuting each other's people and fighting over the release of files. Roman Cuprik sheds more light on the complicated relations within law enforcement in his report.
Quote of the day
"The mobilisation of anti-vaxxers among the extremists and the parliamentary opposition must not speak louder than the fact that more than 40 percent of Slovakia's citizens behave responsibly towards themselves and towards others."
Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok (SaS nominee) admitted that there seems to be nobody to stand up for those who have been vaccinated.
Slovak Olympic team today
Eliška Mintálová ended ninth in the K1 slalom. Her goal for her first-ever Olympic appearance was to advance to the finals. She finished with the fifth best time, 108.36 sec., with an additional 50-second penalisation.
Eliska Mintalova (source: TASR)
"I'm glad I managed, even with a broken toe," Mintálová told the public-service RTVS.
Tennis players Filip Polášek and Lukáš Klein lost the second round of doubles to Americans Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren 7:6, 2:6 a 5:10. (olympic.com)
Wang Jang (source: TASR)
Slovakia no longer has a representative in the table tennis Olympic tournament, either. Wang Jang, a Chinese-born Slovak citizen, lost the third round of singles to Japanese player Koki Niwa 0:4.
In other news
Reporters Without Borders pointed to the public-service broadcaster RTVS sacking a journalist critical of a fake story about the Covid vaccine. The international organisation has expressed its support for the fired reporter and pointed to several problems with the report.
More than 11 percent of Slovakia's inhabitants lived below the limit for income poverty.
The Supreme Administrative Court will kick off on August 1, albeit with just 16 judges. Five more candidates have yet to be vetted by the Judicial Council.
President Zuzana Čaputová granted three conditional pardons, to a man convicted to 10 years in prison for possessing marijuana, and to two mothers of underage children.
Wüstenrot quits selling new housing construction savings policies. The company has founded the Wüstenrot InHouse Broker branch in order to focus on comprehensive services in brokering loans, savings, and capital market.
Do not miss on Spectator.sk today
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