Government decides that border controls will end at noon on Friday, Czechs do not have to provide a test

At noon on Friday, state border controls with Austria and Germany, put in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, are coming to an end. This decision was made by the government of Andrej Babiš at an extraordinary meeting on Friday, 5 June 2020. Czechs will no longer need to provide a negative Covid-19 test or go into quarantine after returning from these countries or from Slovakia or Hungary.

From Friday 5 June at 12 noon, the current restrictions on free movement at the Czech Republic's borders with Austria and Germany will end. The protection of internal borders will continue to apply only at the air(port) border and the Czech Police will carry out only random checks focused mainly on compliance with restrictions on cross-border movement of persons stipulated by the Ministry of Health, i.e. foreigners who are not exempt from the Ministry’s ban on entry to the Czech Republic.

As of the same date, now exempt from this ban are European Union citizens with a certificate of temporary residence or permanent residence in Hungary, Germany, Austria and Slovakia and foreigners with granted long-term resident status in those countries who cross the state border between the Czech Republic and Germany, Austria or Slovakia.

In addition, Czechs and foreigners with temporary, permanent or residential residence in the Czech Republic will not have to provide a negative Covid-19 test when returning from these countries. The same applies to Czech citizens who have permanent residence in Germany, Hungary, Austria or Slovakia.

Prime Minister Babiš made the following comments: "I have worked intensively with Ministers Petříček, Vojtěch and Hamáček to open the borders with Germany and Austria as soon as possible. We do not have a border with Hungary, but the main thing is that our citizens do not need a coronavirus test or quarantine when they return home. This is basically in line with the traffic signal we announced, and which will be valid from 15 June. But we have accelerated these countries and I think that is a good thing. We need to return to normal and I think it can be beneficial for the Czech Republic as well, if the citizens of these countries come to spend money with us."

However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs points out that in the case of the state border with Germany, this is so far a unilateral step on the part of the Czech government. Therefore, when travelling to Germany, Czech citizens must submit to conditions that are currently valid on German territory (in Czech language). Therefore from 12 noon a limitation on traffic from neighbouring countries applies only at the border with Poland; this was introduced until further notice by the Polish government.

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