MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Sunday, May 3, 2020 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Saturday, May 2): BRATISLAVA - Four new cases of novel coronavirus and one death of COVID-19 were reported in Slovakia on Friday, stated the National Centre for Health Information on Saturday. The total tally of coronavirus infections has risen to 1,407, while the total death toll now stands at 24. Almost 95,000 tests have been carried out in total, including 3,700 on Friday. BRATISLAVA - Prime Minister Igor Matovic (OLaNO), speaking on RTVS's politics discussion programme 'Sobotne dialogy' (Saturday Dialogues), conceded that children could be "allowed" to go to school for at least a month during the two-month holidays in July and August to make it up at least partly for the coronavirus break, now lasting nearly two months. Nevertheless, Matovic said that this will be possible only if Slovakia continues doing well vis-a-vis coronavirus. Matovic again reiterated one of his key policy statements regarding coronavirus, namely that not politicians, but epidemiologists should be the ones to decide, including on the re-opening of shops, for example. He called for responsibility of both the public and politicians, especially First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Richard Sulik (SaS), who's been warning for several weeks against devastating economic effects of the lockdown amid not a particularly rampant coronavirus outbreak in Slovakia. However, Matovic on the show claimed Slovakia is in fact doing well economically. "As we have healthy people in Slovakia, we also have the healthiest firms," he stated, adding that as soon as foreign demand recovers, Slovakia will be able to relaunch production. BRATISLAVA - Albeit parties of the governing coalition (OLaNO, We Are Family, SaS and For the People) have already discussed the issue of a new prosecutor-general to replace Jaromir Ciznar after his term expires later this year, there's still no agreement on any specific name, as three or four persons have been mentioned, said Prime Minister Igor Matovic (OLaNO) on RTVS's programme 'Sobotne dialogy' (Saturday Dialogues). NITRA - State-run company MH Invest allegedly violated the law in preparing the ground for the Jaguar Land Rover plant in Nitra, according to results of an inspection carried out by the Public Procurement Office (UVO). Following direct talks with eight companies, MH Invest placed without a public tender a commission for an amount that exceeded the legally stipulated cap, while such a course of action is allowed only in emergency situations. This includes natural disasters and other unforseeable events that threaten people's lives and health, said UVO chairman Miroslav Hlivak. According to Hlivak, MH Invest claimed that it had considered the possibility of Jaguar Land Rover changing its mind concerning the investment in Nitra as an emergency situation. BRATISLAVA - Extreme drought has already affected one quarter of Slovakia's territory, TASR was told by Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber (SPPK) spokesperson Jana Holeciova on Saturday. For example, drought in the area of Senica in the far west has begun affecting significantly the growth of spring plants. At the same time rapeseed is lower than usual and winter wheat has begun reducing tillers early. Farmers in the area even have to plough out poppy, a situation that is without precedent. bub