The Czech Republic, which has been extremely affected by the corona pandemic, has massively restricted the freedom of movement of its citizens for at least three weeks. People are only allowed to leave their district in exceptional cases. On Monday morning, the police began strict controls on streets and trains. “We will be everywhere, even on the smallest county roads,” said a police spokesman. More than 25,000 police officers and up to 5,000 soldiers take part in the controls.
Image: APA (AFP)
In cases of doubt, the officials want to be lenient at the beginning. But if someone obviously disregards the rules, that will of course be punished, emphasized the spokesman. That has already happened, but it is still too early to take stock. There is a threat of fines equivalent to just under 400 euros. In some places there were traffic jams because of the controls.
It is possible to travel to work, to the doctor and to authorities across district boundaries if written evidence is carried with you. It is still allowed to leave the Czech Republic. More than 25,000 police officers and up to 5,000 soldiers are involved in the controls. There was criticism in online comments. Many users wrote that this did not exist even under communism.
The background is that the Czech Republic has the highest rate of new corona infections of all EU countries. On Monday, authorities reported 4,557 new cases within 24 hours. There have been more than 1.2 million infections and 20,469 deaths since the pandemic began. The country has around 10.7 million inhabitants. According to the latest figures from the EU health agency ECDC, there were 1,120 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the Czech Republic within 14 days.
According to critics, the measures taken by the government under Prime Minister Andrej Babis do not go far enough. The trade union umbrella organization CMKOS called for a one-week break in the factories over Easter. The cabinet is only planning regular testing for companies with more than 250 employees.
