Government bans all non-essential travel to the Czech Republic

Tourists will not be allowed to enter the Czech Republic for non-essential reasons as of today, regardless of the Czech "traffic light" system for travelers, the Foreign Ministry tweeted on Friday.

There will be exemptions for those working or studying in the Czech Republic.

The government has banned non-essential travel to the Czech Republic with exceptions for work and school, necessary trips to see family, travel to health and social care facilities, marriages, and funerals.

Border checkpoints are not planned, but police will conduct random checks throughout the the border areas, police command spokesman Ondřej Moravčík said.

"It will be handled the same as now, but we will be checking something different," Moravčík said.

"We have previously checked whether travelers have a PCR test, but as of [Saturday], we will check whether people have a valid reason to come here."

Foreigners will have to present a reason for the their arrival, and convince the police patrol.

"It will be up to the police to evaluate and decide whether the reason is valid," Moravčík said.

For police, this is not expected to be a major problem as travel across the border into the Czech Republic is not currently high.

"If we do not speak about commuters, to whom this does not refer, basically no one else is travelling here," Moravčík said.

The Foreign Ministry later tweeted that this was in practice nothing new, but a confirmation of the current state of affairs.

Until now, travel to the Czech Republic was guided by the "traffic light" system, which covered both the return of Czechs residents and the arrival of foreigners into the country.

As of Saturday, they will have to obey the new order irrespective of a country's traffic light color.