Govt caps protective gear prices, creates legal basis to fight covid-19

The decree affects protective and surgical masks, goggles, gloves, protective suits, sanitizers, ventilators, portable oxygen systems and contactless body temperature thermometers.

The prices of these products over the next three months are capped at the highest retail prices in the market at 8am on Saturday.

The government also issued a decision that measures "stipulated in the contagious diseases act for plague or viral haemorrhagic fevers" be applied to fight the covid-19 epidemic as a novel disease.

The act provides for measures such as epidemic testing, quarantining, inoculation and disinfection.

Once provision provides for a quarantine as a measure to restrict the freedom of movement and impose mandatory health checks of healthy persons suspected to have been in contact with an infectious person.

A quarantine is decreed by the minister of health on the proposal of the National Institute of Public Health and is not appealable.

As the number of coronavirus cases kept rising the former government already declared an epidemic earlier in the week and ordered the closure of all educational institutions from Monday as well as banned public events and urged a scale-down of public life.

Quarantine or self-isolation has so far been ordered only for individuals infected or in contact with coronavirus patients.

The most recent official number available shows that 181 persons had tested positive for coronavirus until 2pm today.

A decree issued by the former Health Minister Aleš Šabeder stepped in force at 7pm on Friday limiting the amount of prescription drugs issued by pharmacies equal to a month's treatment per patient and over-the counter drugs to a packet per person.

Pharmacies that meet the requirements to produce official formula preparations have been ordered to produce sanitisers and disinfectants.