Pellegrini: Slovakia to Ban All Flights to and from Italy

Bratislava, March 6 (TASR) – All flights involving Italy, both incoming and outgoing, will be banned at all Slovak international airports as of Monday (March 9), and it will not be possible to visit people in any Slovak hospital, either, Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) announced after a session of the Interior Ministry’s crisis team on Friday.

Pellegrini was speaking in response to the first confirmed coronavirus case in Slovakia.

The prime minister has also recommended that the Episcopal Conference of Slovakia should consider introducing restrictions on church services that are attended by large congregations.

Also banned will be visits to social service institutions, prisons and foster homes. The Education, Science, Research and Sport Ministry will ban school excursions and trips abroad.

Pellegrini also recommended that Slovaks should reconsider attending sporting and cultural events. “Even though there’s only a single case, the sooner we adopt sufficient measures and restrict large gatherings of people in a single place the better,” he claimed. The same applies to foreign trips. “I recommend that people shouldn’t travel to any foreign country, and certainly not by air.”