Austria soon on Slovakia’s red crown list? – Coronavirus Vienna

This is the recommendation of the Slovak Council of Experts, which has not yet been confirmed by the Pandemic Commission, as Slovak news channel TA3 reported on Friday.

“It is feared that Austria and the Czech Republic could be declared red countries,” the Secretary of State of the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Martin Klus, confirmed to the station. Quarantine is mandatory in Slovakia for travelers from red countries. The final decision should only be made after the pandemic commission meetings and the crisis team connection in Slovakia, which are scheduled for Friday and Monday next week, he added.

Both bodies have yet to discuss what the border regime should look like in this case. “Personally, I cannot imagine that we would quarantine citizens who cross the border between Austria and Slovakia or the Czech Republic and Slovakia,” Klus emphasized.

One possibility would be to accept the entry of people who could show a negative Covid-19 test of no more than 72 hours. There could possibly be “broad exceptions” for critical infrastructure, physicians, and nurses. But this would inevitably lead to complaints from other professional groups that they are being treated as second-class citizens. In any case, according to Klus, Slovakia would not completely block the borders with its neighbors following the example of Hungary, but it would make crossing the border much more difficult.

Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia had only agreed on Wednesday this week to cooperate further in the future on the Crown crisis. Every effort should be made to keep the borders between neighboring countries open, Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic said after a meeting with Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis in Vienna.