On Wednesday evening, the Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch (ANO) announced further measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The changes will mainly concern mass events – public and private.

As on Friday 18 September from 6 pm, indoor events where more than ten people have to stand will be banned.

Exceptions are exhibitions, markets, fairs, and other similar events.

The measure also applies to restaurants, bars, and clubs. According to the ministry, this does not mean that people wearing a face mask are not allowed to move around the space, for example, to dance.

Those events where people can be seated, have to sell tickets with the specific seat marked.

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Vojtěch justified the new measure saying that “the majority of people infected with coronavirus are now between the ages of 20 and 29. We are based on the Austrian model. These events in various clubs are the source of the spread of the disease,” he  added.

“Inevitably the numbers in the coming days will be very similar to the current increases. ” Vojtech said.

The government put the current reproduction rate of the virus at 1.59, meaning that every infected person passes on the virus to more than one other.

“We have to calculate with that, although we are hoping for a certain decline or at least stabilisation from the measures adopted.”

“The number of people at public and private events such as weddings and celebrations will be reduced,” Roman Prymula explained. The increase in numbers is due to the fact that for the last three months people have thought that the virus has disappeared,” he added.

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The daily count of new coronavirus cases rose to 1,677 on Tuesday, the highest on record.

The overall number of confirmed cases rose to 38,896 as of Sept. 15, data from the Health Ministry showed on Wednesday. Deaths in the country of 10.7 million have reached 476.