Czechs Republic See Largest Daily Rise in Coronavirus Infections With 1,164 New Cases
The Czech Republic reported on Wednesday its largest one-day spike in coronavirus infections, with 1,164 new cases.
It was the first time since the March outbreak that the number of new daily cases topped 1,000, amid a surge over the past month, although the government wants to avoid strict lockdowns of the kind imposed at the start of the pandemic.
The number of citizens hospitalized is also growing rapidly. In the last 14 days, it has increased by a hundred while the number of patients in critical condition has almost doubled.
Read: Coronavirus: All You Need to Know About New Measures Valid From Tomorrow
From today, September 9th, new restrictions are valid:
- Bars and clubs in Prague will have to close from midnight to 6 am
- Face masks will be mandatory in shops and malls
- Face masks will be mandatory at the post office
- Citizens need to cover their mouth and nose in all interior spaces at railway stations and at Prague Airport
“We are not preparing a lockdown, the hard restrictive measures that would fundamentally limit the economy, tourism and so on,” Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlicek said. “We are not underestimating the situation, we are acting locally.”
Read: WHO Czech Republic: “The Covid Situation in the Country is Worrying”
Prime Minister Andrej Babis has said tracing may be narrowed nationwide to contacts of people who show more serious symptoms, but the WHO’s local office said tracing should be scaled up.
Babis reacted on Twitter by saying the WHO should “keep quiet” because it had been slow to recognize the pandemic.
According to the development of the infection in the last 14 days in Europe, only Spain, France, Croatia, Romania, and Malta had a worsening than the Czech Republic.
The total number of infected in the country reached 9272. In most of them, the disease has a mild course, many are asymptomatic.
There are 234 people hospitalized. 62 patients are in critical condition according to the latest data from the Ministry of Health.
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