The cabinet agreed yesterday (Tuesday) to extend the State of Emergency, from August 1st to September 30th, citing the need to control the spread of COVID-19, especially the new Omicron sub-variants which are spreading rapidly.
The current Emergency Decree is due to expire on July 31st and this new extension will be the 19th. The Emergency Decree was first imposed throughout the country on March 26th, 2020, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Opposition parties and rights organisations have urged the government to scrap the Decree, claiming that it is being used to suppress free expression and street protests by pro-democracy groups, but to no avail.