Despite the local measures introduced by some health establishments, the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic assumes that this year's winter will not be a strain on the Slovak health system in connection with the occurrence of COVID-19. The population developed sufficient collective immunity to stop this disease from posing a public health risk. In addition to vaccines, patients are provided with medicines to treat COVID-19 Paxlovid and Veclura in sufficient amounts. These are medicines approved by the European Commission on the basis of a recommendation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The unregistered human medicinal product Lagevrio, which is not currently used as a first-choice medicine for the indication of pharmacotherapy in adult patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 disease in the majority of Member States of the European Union, will not be further contracted by the Ministry of Health for the time being.
Effective, safe and high-quality medicines Paxlovid and Veklura are currently available in sufficient stocks of warehouses for holders of large distribution authorisations. Treatment is currently indicated for risk cases as it is a diametrically different situation than it was in 2020 when none of us had developed antibodies to the disease. The measurable antibody value in the population is high enough to be able to overcome COVID-19 relatively easily.

Virtually every country has a well-set "Surveilance system" and can identify mutations that have the potential to bypass antibodies in time. However, we do not currently have any options with such potential. We will record increases in covid diseases in regular waves at least twice a year. This is given by the high virus reproductive number, as SARS-CoV-2 (as well as any other virus) cannot be eliminated once it has been spread in the population. Gradually, as we were vaccinated and naturally infected and subsequently overcome COVID-19, sufficient immunity developed in the human population to stop the disease presenting a risk. Mortality at COVID-19 is about ten times lower due to well-developed immunity, which further improves with each additional dose and with each new disease. This figure has been further reduced by the fact that, in addition to vaccines, we already have medicines for this disease. If a high-risk person is vaccinated and early treatment is introduced during the illness, the success of COVID-19 is virtually 100%.
The Slovak Republic, like other countries, has started to integrate COVID-19 procedures with access to other acute respiratory diseases and thus to integrate COVID-19 into standardised processes for monitoring the development of acute respiratory diseases. Of course, we will continue to respond to the recommendations of experts, national and international authorities if the epidemiological situation changes. We are not currently considering the introduction of sweeping measuresHowever, we continue to favour a responsible and proactive approach by citizens to protect their own health in preventing COVID-19 disease.
Public information regarding COVID-19 is regularly updated by the Public Health Office of the Slovak Republic on the following link:

https://www.uvzr.sk/web/uz/home/-/asset publisher/uhuw/content/coid-19-a-jesen-2023