Slovakia’s newly elected prime minister Igor Matovič is considering a controversial plan to implement a so-called “blackout” of the country during which the mobility of people would be radically limited. He says that such a step, which would have to be announced “weeks” in advance to the public, would allow the country to re-start its economy in the shortest possible period of time. As it is, he warned, the country is losing €70m per day, something it can’t afford to do indefinitely. But numerous parties have come out against the idea, including some in the ruling government coalition. The Minister of Economy Richard Sulik said he’s was against what he called an experiment that would liquidate the economy unless the situation began to look as drastic as it is in Italy, with up to 1,000 deaths daily. Other political leaders are calling to step up testing and for contact tracking. Slovakia currently has 400 cases of COVID-19 but experts warn that the pace of contagion is now increasingly rapidly.
