Starting today, there’s no more need to show proof of vaccination or being recently recovered from COVID-19 to enter restaurants and other hospitality or service venues.
For travel abroad, however, certificates are still needed, and from mid-February, their validity will be limited to nine months from the completed vaccination and can be extended with a booster dose.
Measures requiring mask-wearing indoors and limits to the number of people at public events will remain.
“The first step is the cancelling of certificates; another one is the end of blanket testing,” said the Health Minister of Czechia, Vlastimil Válek.
Most of the measures against the spread of Covid-19 will be abolished in the Czech Republic as of March 1, Prime Minister Fiala announced at a press conference after the government’s meeting on Wednesday.
The only measure that will stay in force will be the wearing of respirators in public spaces.
The moves follow easing planned in other European countries. Neighbouring Austria will allow shops and restaurants to remain open longer and also ease restrictions on the unvaccinated from next week.
The Czech government has sought to boost vaccinations, with 63.5% of its population inoculated, below the European Union average of 70%, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Almost 36% of Czechs have had a booster shot.
