A new temporary testing site for COVID-19 is opened in Trenčín on September 4, 2020. (source: TASR)
This is your overview of news that happened in Slovakia on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. Do not forget to scroll down to see some tips for reads from Spectator.sk.
The Slovak Spectator is trying to bring you the latest news from Slovakia, preparing the news digest at the end of every weekday. If you want to support our work, consider buying our online subscription which will give you access to our entire content. Thank you for being our reader.
Foreign trade remains in surplus
Slovakia’s foreign trade continued to rise at the start of the summer.
Exports increased by 0.8 percent year-on-year, while imports of goods were lower by 8.9 percent y-o-y. July imports thus reached €5.55 billion and exports stood at €5.88 billion. The foreign trade balance was in surplus, amounting to €333 million, according to the Statistics Office.
Exports were again driven by the exports of machinery and transport equipment.
More young people test positive for COVID-19
The number of people who tested positive for the coronavirus began to rise significantly in August.
The majority of new positive cases added to the statistics in August were in their 20s and 30s, suggests a recent analysis of the coronavirus cases issued by the regional Public Health Authority (ÚVZ) branch in Banská Bystrica.
Regional hygienists recorded 1,526 positive COVID-19 cases out of 73,422 tests carried out in August.
Investigation of the Kuciak murder to start again
The investigation of the murders of Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová could start again after the shocking September 3 verdict, based on which Marian Kočner and Alena Zsuzsová were acquitted.
The acting Police Corps president Peter Kovařík considers the dissolution of the team in October 2019 as premature. He has already been in touch with the prosecutor overseeing the murder case, Vladimír Turan.
He gave him the head of Team Kuciak, Peter Juhás, to support the investigation.
Coronavirus-related developments
A total of 91 people were positively diagnosed with the coronavirus disease in Slovakia on September 7. Read more here.
Speaker of Parliament Boris Kollár (Sme Rodina) came in touch with a bodyguard who tested positive for COVID-19. He was tested immediately, with the test result being negative. (Webnoviny.sk)
Labour Minister Milan Krajniak (Sme Rodina) is in self-isolation after one of the workers at the ministry showed COVID-19 symptoms. (Hospodárske Noviny)
In addition to Bratislava, new testing sites have opened in Trenčín and Nitra.
The kindergarten on Haburská Street in Bratislava will remain closed until September 13 after three children tested positive for the coronavirus. The test results of other children and staff are yet to arrive. Moreover, several other schools in the Bratislava borough of Ružinov entered a high-risk zone on Monday, September 7. (TASR)
Three classes at the primary school on Mládežnícka Street in Púchov (Trenčín Region) will remain closed until further notice because of COVID-19 suspicions.
The Dargovských hrdinov kindergarten in Humenné (Prešov Region) will remain closed for a week, starting on September 8, after a teacher tested positive for COVID-19.
One of the clients at the Gaudeamus nursing home in Bratislava tested positive for the coronavirus disease. Another positive case was detected at the Eva Jaczová Dance School, also in the capital.
The Prešov Region is prepared to tighten the anti-epidemic regime in the organisations falling under its administration. In the town of Svidník, authorities will open a quarantine centre for students coming from Ukraine. Also, they will supply nursing homes under its administration with rapid tests and personal protective equipment.
In other news
More than 100 international non-governmental organisations addressed an open letter to the Slovak MPs, expressing their deep concern regarding current threats to reproductive rights in Slovakia.
A memorial to the victims of the Holocaust and racial violence was held on Tuesday, September 8, 2020 in Sereď (Trnava Region).
Ružena Sabová, a chief judge of the senate deciding in the Kuciak murder case, has told the president of the Specialised Criminal Court that the leaked information on the voting of the senate judges about the September 3 verdictis not true. (Denník N)
The son of the former state secretary Monika Jankovská changed his name after he married his girlfriend. (Denník N)
The coronavirus changed the holiday plans of Slovaks. Statistics show that only 38 percent went on vacation this summer, almost one quarter less than last year.
The National Criminal Agency (NAKA) is carrying out raids in the Mochovce nuclear power plant and other places in Bratislava, the police informed. NAKA has conducted criminal prosecutions in connection with the overpriced completion of the nuclear power plant's third and fourth blocks.
The Plzeňský prazdroj brewing company has informed that it invested €850,000 in the malting plant in Veľký Šariš (Prešov Region).
Also on Spectator.sk:
