Czech Republic lifts months-long virus state of emergency

Prague, Apr 12 (EFE).- The Czech Republic on Monday ended a state of health emergency for the first time in six months.

Citizens will be allowed to move between districts, a daily curfew will be lifted, and students under the age of 10 will return to kindergartens and schools. Senior students, however, will continue with online learning.

Although the restrictive measures are being eased, other rules will remain in place as restaurants and non-essential businesses will be kept shut for at least two weeks.

The state of emergency went into effect on October 5, 2020 and was renewed multiple times after that.

The rate of new infections and deaths has decreased in April. For weeks, the country was one of the Europe’s worst-hit nations in terms of infection rates per capita.

In the past 24 hours, the Czech Republic has recorded 976 new infections, 1,000 fewer than the previous day, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

Since the start of the pandemic, health authorities have reported over 1.5 million coronavirus cases and 27,918 deaths.EFE