The Prosecutor-General's office will check whether there were any actions or omissions in connection with managing the COVID-19 pandemic that constitute criminal liability. Spokesman for the PG's Office Dalibor Skladan told TASR press agency on Monday. He was responding to the results of a study titled "Excess Mortality COVID-19" by the consultancy Pazitny & Kandilaki. The study points out that if Slovakia had progressed like the best EU countries, up to 21,308 human lives could have been saved. "The Prosecutor-General's Office has taken measures to verify important facts arising from the 'Excess Mortality Rate of COVID-19' study in the context of health policy decisions [between 2020-2022]," declared Skladan. The primary aim of the study was to find out how many lives could have been saved if health and 'large' policy instruments had been implemented during the pandemic as in the best-performing EU countries, such as Estonia, Portugal, Germany and Denmark. Co-author of the study Peter Pažitný pointed out that the second and third waves took a different course, and Slovakia recorded a high number of infected and dead. "While the strong second wave was primarily a result of neglected preparations, chaotic political decisions often without scientific basis, inappropriate communication with the public and the late introduction of a tough lockdown, the main problem with the third wave was the politicisation of the topic of vaccination and again the late introduction of a lockdown," he said.
Source: TASR
