Saturday is the last day of the state of emergency in the Czech Republic. At midnight on Sunday, this regime, which has been in force due to the coronavirus epidemic since November 26, will end. Restaurants, bars, discotheques, casinos, and similar establishments will therefore not have to close at 22:00 on Saturday. The ban on drinking alcohol in public will also cease to apply.
The new coalition government of Petr Fiala (ODS) has decided not to ask MEPs to extend the state of emergency and intends to fight the spread of the disease with a pandemic law. This week, the cabinet announced that no more than 1,000 people would be allowed to attend cultural and other events after the state of emergency ends. Events where attendees are not seated at tables, will be limited to a maximum of 100 people. But the tightening of the measures will come around New Year’s Eve.
From December 29 to January 2, public and private events will not have more than 50 people without seating. The number of people allowed at a restaurant table will be reduced from six to four unless they are members of the same household. With exceptions, only people who have completed their vaccination or have had a COVID in the last six months will continue to attend events and restaurants. Operators and organizers will check COVID certificates using an app to scan QR codes.
Police officers have imposed 850 penalties
In connection with the state of emergency, police officers had registered 4,356 violations of the emergency law as of Thursday, police spokesman Ondrej Moravcik said. Almost half of the recorded violations, namely 2,092, were handed over to administrative authorities for resolution. A police officer imposed 850 penalties.
The state of emergency was declared for 30 days by the former government of Andrej Babiš (ANO) to introduce some blanket restrictions to limit the spread of the disease. The pandemic law does not allow them. In addition to the nightly closure of restaurants, bars, clubs, and other similar venues between 22:00 and 05:00 and the ban on drinking alcohol in public, the state of emergency served in particular to ban the organization of Christmas markets. However, some operators have circumvented the ban by, for example, labeling markets as farmers’ markets.