October 14th: new measures

After a whole day of discussions, the government has announced new anti-coronavirus measures that will come into effect on Wednesday.

People will only be able to meet in groups of six or under - with the exception of families, meetings of state administration officials, political parties, and similar gatherings.

Restaurants, bars, and clubs will only be able to serve customers through take-out windows and until 8 p.m.

Elementary schools will have to close, but kindergartens will remain open. Czech universities and high schools have already switched to online learning.

Also starting Wednesday, people will not be allowed to drink alcohol in public, and face-masks will be mandatory at public transport stops.

All of these new measures should remain in effect until at least November 3rd when the state of emergency ends. However, it is still possible that it will be extended.

According to Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO), if the reproduction number, or R value, drops under 0.8, these new measures will be relaxed. On Friday, the Minister of Health Roman Prymula (for ANO) said that the reproduction number was 1.5.