Czech Republic to introduce night curfew from Wednesday

A night curfew from 21:00 p.m. to 04:59 a.m. will be introduced in the Czech Republic from Wednesday as a measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the Health Ministry announced Monday night after a government meeting.

Exceptions will apply to journeys to work, urgent journeys to protect life, health and property, and dogs walking within 500 meters of the place of residence.

In addition, retail sales will be prohibited on Sundays all day and on other days from 20:00 p.m. to 05:00 a.m.. This does not apply to gas stations or pharmacies.

Health Minister Roman Prymula said the new restriction should further minimize the number of contacts among people.

He said the government plans to deploy police officers to check why people are outside.

The curfew will be effective until the end of the state of emergency that is to expire on Nov. 3, but the government will probably ask the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday to extend it.

The country has witnessed rapid increase of new COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.

So far, there have been 263,572 infection cases, including 5,613 people now in hospital.

• Czech Republic closes shops, curbs movement as COVID-19 cases spike

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Source: Xinhua