Prague is celebrating the end of the coronavirus closure with a mass dinner at a 1,600-foot table

(CNN) – People in the Czech capital, Prague, built a 1,600-foot table and held a mass public dinner on Tuesday to celebrate the end of the country’s coronavirus closure.

Residents stretched through the city streets and over its famous Charles Bridge after the government lifted restrictions on large gatherings.

The Czech Republic quickly began halting the onset of the global coronavirus outbreak and became one of the first countries to tell its citizens to wear masks – helping it avoid the worst pandemics and easing restrictions earlier than many other countries.

This meant that locals could enjoy the spectacle of eating alfresca and give up social distancing to celebrate the country’s progress.

Everyone had to bring something to the party.

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But the World Health Organization has warned that the pandemic is not over, and the Czech Republic still bans many foreigners from crossing its borders – a rule that allowed the event to take place.

“We want to celebrate the end of the coronavirus crisis with people meeting and showing that they are no longer afraid to meet others. Not afraid to accept a sandwich bite from someone,” Ondrej Kobza, Prague-based cafe owner who organized the event, told Agence France-Presse .

The Czech Republic has recorded relatively few cases of coronavirus compared to its European neighbors.

Gabriel Kuchta / Getty Images

“Everyone had to do something to be here, bring food or a flower. The idea was for everyone to get involved,” Kobza said.

The tables were decorated with white tablecloths and flowers, and the locals drank and shared food as the sun set over the city.

The country with about 10 million, the Czech Republic, recorded about 12,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 349 deaths, data from Johns Hopkins University show. These figures are relatively low compared to some of its close European neighbors.

The country quickly began to stop at the start of the pandemic.

Gabriel Kuchta / Getty Images

The European Union officially agreed on Tuesday on a series of recommendations to allow travelers outside the bloc to visit EU countries, months after closing its external borders in response to a pandemic.

As widely expected, the list of 14 countries does not include the United States, whose current rate of human infection does not meet the criteria set by the EU to be considered a “safe country”.