[ad_1]
Slovakia will reopen theaters, cinemas and churches at half capacity starting Monday, and gyms and swimming pools will be able to operate with a limited number of visitors. Games in the hockey and football leagues will resume, but without spectators, Prime Minister Igor Matovic reported on Facebook on Friday.
Relaxation measures are being taken in the context of Slovakia, a country of 5.5 million people, which has carried out a mass population testing campaign, the result of which is considered a success.
Thus, Slovakia is one of the first countries to relax restrictions, as the second wave of the pandemic is wreaking havoc in Europe.
Igor Matovic claims that large-scale tests, using antigen tests, which provide faster results but with less precision compared to standard PCR tests, have helped reduce the proportion of infections by more than half.
Slovakia reported a total of 83,796 coronavirus cases detected by standard tests since the start of the pandemic, including 2,024 new cases reported on Thursday, close to the seven-day average. The number of infections has dropped considerably from the daily record of more than 3,000 recorded at the end of October. Through antigen testing, Slovakia detected around 60,000 cases.
A total of 491 people died as a result of COVID-19 in Slovakia, a small balance compared to other Western European countries and almost 12 times less than in the neighboring country, the Czech Republic, where infection and death rates per capita highest in Europe in recent weeks, writes Agerpres.
Editor: Luana Pavaluca
