Government discusses current pandemic situation and vaccination preparations

At its regular meeting, the government of Andrej Babiš discussed the current situation with the development of Covid-19 in the Czech Republic and in the rest of the world.

The government took note of the protective measure by means of which the Department of Health has banned airlines from flying from the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland from 12 noon today until the end of the year https://www.mzcr.cz/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Ochrann%C3%A9-opat%C5%99en%C3%AD-z%C3%A1kaz-let%C5%AF-ze-Spojen%C3%A9ho-kr%C3%A1lovstv%C3%AD-Velk%C3%A9-Brit%C3%A1nie-a-Severn%C3%ADho-Irska-s-%C3%BA%C4%8Dinnost%C3%AD-od-21.-12.-2020-od-12-hodin.pdf (in Czech language).

As of Sunday, all passengers from the UK and Northern Ireland who have stayed in the UK during the last two weeks must be quarantined for 10 days. This can be terminated early only on the basis of a negative PCR test result. This is due to the risk associated with a new virus mutation that has been demonstrated in the UK https://www.mzcr.cz/ochranne-opatreni-omezeni-prekroceni-statni-hranice-cr-s-ucinnosti-od-20-12-2020-od-15-30-hodin-do-odvolani/ (in Czech language).

The Cabinet also dealt with Covid-19 vaccination preparations for the population. "We are finally here and at 15:00 the European Medicines Agency announced that it has conditionally approved the Pfizer vaccine," stated Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. "The European Commission may meet this evening, which would speed everything up, because it was expected to be approved on 23 December. This then means that, as planned, the first deliveries could take place on 26 December. The initial smaller deliveries could arrive in the Czech Republic on the evening of 26 December, and on 27 December we would start vaccinating in the Czech Republic in accordance with the plan, " said Prime Minister Babiš. In the first, symbolic batch, 9,750 vaccine doses should arrive in the Czech Republic.

The government has approved a change of the crisis measure governing the rules for outings from social care facilities. From 22 December, an outing will be allowed on condition that the user is placed in separate premises immediately after return and a first antigenic POC test is performed within 72 hours of the end of the outing, to be repeated by another in 3 to 4 days. /assets/media-centrum/tiskove-zpravy/uv201221-1370.pdf (in Czech language).

The government also noted new emergency measures from the Ministry of Health, which, inter alia, instruct health care facilities to reduce planned care from tomorrow and to continuously increase the capacity of Covid beds https://www.mzcr.cz/mimoradne-opatreni-narizeni-poskytovatelum-akutni-luzkove-pece-a-nasledne-luzkove-pece-s-ucinnosti-od-22-12-2020/ (in Czech language).

The cabinet also agreed on further help to businesses. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance has the task of preparing a further others liberation tax package, which will extend the current pardon on late-payment interest for certain taxes and advances on road tax for the tax period of 2021 due on 15 April 2021, until 16 August 2021.

The government has also decided to extend all three regimes of the Antivirus Targeted Employment Support Programme until 28 February 2021. The reason is, on the one hand, the still unfavourable epidemic situation, which requires government-imposed regulations that significantly affect the functioning of certain segments of the economy, and also delay in the legislative process of the amendment to the Employment Act introducing short-time working. This still awaits discussion in the Chamber of Deputies. The government will need another 8 billion crowns to continue the Antivirus programme. More information can be found in the press release of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs at https://www.mpsv.cz/documents/20142/1248138/21_12_2020_TZ_Prodlouzeni_Programu_Antivirus.pdf/ (in Czech language).

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