Premier: People in Nitra to Be Allowed to Go to Work only with Negative Test

Nitra, January 5 (TASR) – People should be allowed to go to work in Nitra District over the next three weeks, starting on Monday (January 11), only with a negative test for COVID-19 not older than seven days, Prime Minister Igor Matovic (OLaNO) told a press briefing in Nitra on Tuesday.

The premier announced that there will be area-wide testing between January 8-10. Measures for Nitra district are to be adopted by the Government at its session on Wednesday (January 6).

According to the premier, the situation in Nitra district is catastrophic and is currently worse than it was last autumn in Orava area. “It’s even more dangerous because the numbers in Orava were peaking and were stabilised. In Nitra district, however, the number of people tested positive is increasing dramatically,” stressed Matovic.

The prime minister went on to say that they could take into account the possibility of tightening the lockdown and not allowing people to go to work. “So, for example, we’d tell Jaguar Land Rover that 4,500 people won’t come to work tomorrow and no cars will be exported from Slovakia from tomorrow. And there are many such companies and there was a danger that ten thousands of people would not be able to go to work. So a better solution is honest area-wide testing and yes, not entirely voluntary,” said Matovic.

Nitra Mayor Marek Hattas said that the whole area needs to be tested. “This is not just the city of Nitra with 77,000 inhabitants but the whole district with 166,000 inhabitants. It won’t be easy, but we can do it. We have excellent mayors and if people help, we can do the testing despite the extremely short preparation time. It is the only reasonable solution that can be found in this situation,” said Hattas.

Director of Nitra University Hospital Milan Dubaj also called for testing, stressing that the situation in this medical facility is often beyond the carrying capacity.