Police Issue Warning about Fines for Violating Ban on Free Movement
Bratislava, October 26 (TASR) – The Slovak police on their Facebook page on Monday warned the public about fines amounting to €1,000-1,659 for violating the Government’s decree banning the free movement of people in the country apart from specific reasons.
The police stated that if a patrol sees anyone outside their residence, they should be able to prove the purpose of their journey. For example, they should show their work contract or a shop bill, as both journeys to work and to the closest grocery, pharmacy and drug stores are still permitted. It’s also allowed to walk a dog within a radius of 100 metres from one’s home and to go into the countryside within a single district.
The police also provided statistics regarding recorded violations of anti-coronavirus measures between March and October 22. These included 1,590 violations of mandatory quarantine, 406 violations of the ban on the closure of stipulated facilities and 2,476 violations of the obligation to wear a face mask.
Compulsory mask wearing for public indoor premises in Slovakia has been in place since March, while it was interrupted for outdoor areas between the early summer and mid-October.
Amid rising numbers of new positive tests (the seven-day rolling average was around 80 per day at the time) and the emergence of new deaths (one per week), the police announced in early September that they would take a harsher line with people violating the mask rule. The seven-day rolling average for new daily positives now exceeds 2,000, while there have been more than 70 deaths from COVID-19 in total in the past seven days.
