Thread by @Xy5Z89

#Slovakia #Bratislava #Coronavirus

The Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic would like to carry out corona mass tests on a regular basis. That would be an alternative to a strict lockdown, the liberal daily “Dennik N” quoted him on Saturday:

“If we ask ourselves whether it is better to lock the whole of Slovakia in a nationwide lockdown, so that millions of people without work and the Shops are closed (...), or whether we all go to a test like this once a week, maybe spend an hour there (...),

then I believe that 99.9 percent of working people are in favor of the nationwide testing. " Since Saturday morning, Slovakia has continued an unprecedented mass test of a large part of the population. Within two days,

all residents of around two-thirds of the country over ten years of age are expected to undergo a rapid antigen test for the second time. Exceptions are those districts that showed particularly few infections in the first round a week ago.

At that time, more than 3.6 million people were tested. More than 38,000 people who tested positive, who would otherwise have spread the infection undetected, were sent to quarantine, Matovic said afterwards.

Participation in the tests is formally voluntary. From Monday, however, everyone who does not have a negative test result will be subject to a rigorous curfew. They are not even allowed to go to work. Slovakia was hardly affected by the first corona wave in spring,

but the number of Covid-19 diseases has risen so sharply since September that experts warned that the underfunded Slovak health system would be overburdened.