President Zuzana Čaputová will meet Prime Minister Igor Matovič (OLaNO) at his request as early as this week, President spokesperson Martin Strizinec confirmed on Monday. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Matovič announced that he wished to meet with the President, to clarify their respective powers under the Constitution and ask her to stop promulgating a notion that future mass testing for COVID-19 should be on a voluntary basis.
Speaking earlier in the day on radio Expres, President Čaputová stated that she perceived it as a false dilemma, when the Prime Minister puts the country to a choice of either submitting to the mass testing or going into full lockdown. "That's really not the situation we're in. The opinion of scientists on what needs to be done is quite clear: reduce mobility and contacts." She claimed that antigen tests are suitable for areas of local outbreaks, hospitals and retirement homes, but not for the mass testing of entire population. The targeted testing must be combined with the diligent tracing of contacts.
