Shops open from May 10

The government decided to let the stores open on May 10 - regardless of the development of the epidemic.

The interdisciplinary group on epidemic situations (MeSES) warned against faster opening of the shops. The cabinet previously announced that stores might be allowed to open on May 3 if the number of newly infected gets to 100 per 100,000 inhabitants. On Thursday, the 7-day average was 146.

On May 3, several services concerning body care - such as hairdressers - will start operating. We wrote about it here. In addition, there will be more changes to the measures in regions where the epidemic situation is more favourable.

These regions are seven in total: Hradec Králové, Plzeň, Karlovy Vary, Central Bohemia, Liberec, Pardubice and Prague. In these parts of the country, all kindergartens will open. Secondary school pupils will also return to classes - they will alternate between weeks at school and learning from home. Galleries, museums and monuments can also open.

In addition to shops, all remaining services should also start operating on May 10 - regardless of the state of the epidemic. On that day, kindergartens should open in the remaining regions - and secondary school pupils should return to classes as well. Practical training of university students should also resume. However, this relaxing of measures in schools depends on the epidemic situation in each region. High schoolers could start learning in schools in the second half of May at the earliest.

Kids who are already in schools and get tested twice a week will only have to get tested once a week, starting May 3. The same applies to school staff. Secondary school pupils will now start testing twice a week. The cabinet also announced that the mandatory testing in companies would continue at least until the end of June.