Slovakia to re-open shops for vaccinated, others face longer lockdown

Slovakia will on Friday re-open non-essential shops and some services for those vaccinated against COVID-19 while at the same time extending a lockdown for others and closing some schools, Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky said. The central European country of 5.5 million people has struggled with one of the world's worst coronavirus waves in the past few weeks, and shut shops and services for all people for two weeks ending Dec. 9. Lengvarsky had sought to extend the general lockdown until Dec.16, and to ease it for the vaccinated from Dec. 17.