Following Wednesday's Government session, Health Minister Marek Krajči (OĽaNO) reported that anyone who arrives in Slovakia from abroad after 15 February will have to spend 14 days in quarantine. Before landing or crossing Slovakia's borders, travellers will have to fill in a registration form and they will be offered an option to undergo quarantine in a state facility. Such travellers will be able to have themselves tested for COVID-19 with a PCR test as of the eighth day of their quarantine and will be eligible to leave if they test negative. Cross-border commuters will be exempted from these measures. Minister Krajči explained that the main reason behind the changes is the South African mutation of novel coronavirus. At the same time, the minister noted that he does not recommend to people to travel abroad.
The government plans to reintroduce the eKaranténa phone app that would monitor the following of isolation measures. This time, Economy Minister Richard Sulík (SaS) was tasked with the electronic quarantine. Minister of Informatization Veronika Remišová (For People) already informed that her ministry is ready to help, especially with its technical aspect. She added that her department also prepared a tracing app based on a Czech model. "It is a tracing application that signals to people when they are in contact with someone who is positive," Remišová clarified.
Meanwhile, the ombudswoman Mária Patakyová has asked the Constitutional Court to assess the constitutionality of several anti-coronavirus measures that interfere with people's rights. The request concerns mainly the issue of depriving people of their freedom by forcing them to undergo quarantine and insufficient legal and judicial protection against measures that interfere with basic human rights and freedoms. Another contested problem is the fact that the powers of the Public Health Authority and Health Ministry during the pandemic are too vague and their scope is too large.
