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Travel to and from the Czech Republic to other countries has been tightly restricted for over a month. However, officials say that recreational travel to selected foreign destinations could be allowed during the summer. Meanwhile, domestic historical sites are expecting a large number of visitors.

The closing of international borders to contain the novel coronavirus has taken a heavy toll on businesses of all kinds – including the illegal drug trade. As a result, official say, the price of highly addictive drugs such as heroin and crystal meth have shot up. While shortages can compel hardcore users to seek treatment, state of emergency measures are complicating outreach efforts.

The Czech Republic is currently preparing to launch a smart quarantine system, while simultaneously also easing strict coronavirus prevention measures. However, some experts and officials have been urging caution when it comes to the latter move. Among them is Štěpán Jurajda, a member of the government’s National Economic Council.

Of the approximately 50,000 pubs in the Czech Republic, nine out of ten have shuttered due to anti-coronavirus measures put in place a month ago. The rest are selling beer out of their windows, trying to stay afloat until social-distancing and other state of emergency measures are lifted. Meanwhile, the newly launched initiative “Save the Pub!” has sold millions of vouchers, enabling customers to support their favourite local haunts until the crisis passes.

With the coronavirus pandemic now seemingly under control in the Czech Republic, the government this week rolled out a plan to reopen certain types of shops and services over the coming seven weeks, in five stages. The plan has come under fire by groups such as the Czech Confederation of Commerce and Tourism, which finds the scope and timetable “discriminatory” in some cases and altogether “unreasonably slow”.

The Czech-born screenwriter Milena Jelinek, who spent most of her life in the United States, has died at the age of 84. Jelinek is perhaps best-known for the acclaimed 1990s film Forgotten Light and taught at Columbia University in New York for many years.

Restaurants in the Czech Republic – which have been shut for a month – will be allowed to reopen in June. However, many are already struggling and in recent days one well-known Prague eatery said it had closed for good. How the city’s dining scene is likely to look after the coronavirus crisis is one of the things I discussed with Jan Valenta of the food tour company Taste of Prague.

After a month of tight restrictions aimed at curbing the COVID-19 epidemic, the Czech government has announced a comprehensive plan under which it will gradually restore business and service sector activity. This will take place over five stages, culminating with the re-opening of hotels, restaurants and shopping malls in June.

European states are facing economic interventions unprecedented since the Second World War, says Danuše Nerudová, currently a member of a special economic advisory team to the government’s COVID-19 task force. The economist believes this is a major opportunity to speed up much needed reforms. When we spoke, she explained how the Czech Republic could harness such change to move away from its image as a “fitting shop” economy focused on assembling products such as cars.

Realising around a month ago that Czech nursing homes were not receiving surgical masks or other materials needed to combat Covid-19, journalist Judita Matyášová began doing something about it. Under the name Roušky seniorům (Face Masks for Seniors), she and three dozen other volunteers have now delivered around 20,000 to facilities around the country. I discussed the initiative with Matyášová.