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Prime Minister Igor Matovic said the cabinet will discuss buying the Sputnik V vaccine
Slovak government under fire as COVID-19 death rate surges to worst in the world
and 105 deaths. “The most significant factor that has prevented coronavirus cases from falling in Slovakia is a high occurrence of the variant that was found in Britain,” said Slovak epidemiologist and vice rector of Trnava University Marek Majdan to the Associated Press.
Two weeks ago, the British mutation of coronavirus was found in 74% of almost 2,000 samples examined recently in the country. "It's spread throughout Slovakia," warned Prime Minister Igor Matovic.
As of today, the government also approved the proposal by the Slovak health ministry to activate the EU civil protection mechanism in the context of the deteriorating pandemic situation and ask for doctors and nurses from abroad to come and help to provide care for patients suffering from coronavirus in anaesthesiology and intensive care units.
"Foreign teams that would come to Slovakia to provide healthcare would only stay for the time necessary in order to achieve the goal. For the time being we expect that the length of stay would be one month," said the ministry in
its report.
The Austrian defence ministry responded that it can lend the medical staff of the Austrian army. "Swift and bureaucracy-free aid is a requirement of European solidarity. That’s why we’ve admitted patients from France, Italy and Montenegro. Now, the Austrian army
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Slovakia has recorded the highest coronavirus death rate in the world, with the seven-day rolling average of daily deaths at 1.782 per 100,000 citizens as of February
16, followed by Portugal (1.352), Montenegro (1.319) and Czechia (1.245), according to data published by Our World in Data.
This comes only a few months after Slovakia became the first country in the world to carry out the nationwide testing of the whole population.
Slovak President Zuzana Caputova warned that the epidemiological situation in the country is extraordinarily grave and serious, attributing the current adverse coronavirus figures to the delay in the introduction of a strict lockdown.
After meeting with scientists and medical experts, she called on the government and public authorities to apply more precise tracking of contacts,
while increasing the supervision and enforcement of emergency measures. They should also carry out more consistent and reasonable communication with the public.
According to her, the country should not overestimate antigen testing and instead
“Slovak President Zuzana Caputova warned
that the epidemiological situation in the country is extraordinarily grave and serious”
boost its PCR testing capacities. "Aside from increased mobility, the mass testing also has a psychological effect," she stressed, implying that the people often perceive their negative certificates as
a clean bill of health.
As of February 16, Slovakia's National Health Information Centre reported more than 6,000 new positive cases
will support Slovakia," said Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
"The Austrian Armed Forces are available whenever the situation calls for it, be it in Austria or abroad... So, it goes without saying that we stand by Slovakia in these times of hardship," added Austrian Defence Minister Klaudia Tanner.
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