From 1 November, under the latest anti-covid-19 measures, restaurants will have to start checking their guests to see if they have been vaccinated against coronavirus, have a negative test, or have suffered from the disease in the last six months.
It comes after the government approved a set of new measures against the spread of Covid-19 in a meeting on Wednesday.
One of the measures has a direct impact on the operation of restaurants, which may affect how many unvaccinated guests will go to them.
However, the government said that checking whether people who come to the restaurant are vaccinated or tested should not change much.
Even now, the obligation to have a completed vaccination or a negative test on arrival at the restaurant applies, although the inspections are so far only random and carried out by hygienists or by the police.
While some food businesses are ready for such inspections, others have reservations- especially since tests will soon be charged and could deter guests from visiting.
Klára Černá, the owner of café Black Coffee in Frýdek-Místek, considers the whole idea of checking covid certificates to be wrong.
“It seems inappropriate to the guests. In my opinion, we don’t even have the authority to do that. I think it is inappropriate to know the health of the guests,” she said.
The Ministry of Health explained some of the ambiguities that have arisen around the new measure.
“A guest who enters a restaurant will be checked and a guest who sits in the garden will also have to show the proof of immunity required. On the contrary, nothing will have to be shown by people who come to the restaurant for take-away food,” said Adam Vojtěch.
In addition to charging for tests and the inspections by restaurant staff, the government approved further measures on Wednesday.
Firstly, the validity of the tests is to be reduced to 24 hours for antigen and 72 hours for PCR tests.
In addition, respirators will once again be mandatory in the workplace from 25 October.
From November 1, health insurance companies will also now stop paying coronavirus tests for unvaccinated people over the age of 18.
The Czech Republic has been one of the hardest hit of the European Union’s 27 countries in the pandemic, with 1.7 million confirmed COVID-19 infections and 30,574 deaths.
Only just over 6 million have been fully vaccinated in the nation of 10.7 million, which is below the EU average.
