State of Emergency Prolonged until January 22

The lower house of the Czech Parliament has extended the state of emergency until January 22.

Health Minister Jan Blatný urged deputies to extend the state of emergency so as to prevent a new upsurge of coronavirus infections.

Tomorrow, the government will take a final decision on the transition to the fifth level within the anti-epidemic PES system.

“If the numbers will grow, the Czech Republic will enter the 5th level of the PES anti-epidemic system on December 25th,” said the Minister of Health Jan Blatný (ANO).

There would be no exceptions: all shops and services will close except those that sell basic goods. The fifth level introduces a stricter night curfew, which should apply from 9 pm.

The Czech Republic reported 7,860 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday as daily infections continue to trend higher. In total, 635,414 cases have been detected since the pandemic started.

There are 83,840 active cases currently, the highest since mid-November. The number of hospitalized patients is at 4,728 while the number of deaths have climbed to 10,562.

General information

The state of emergency is declared under Constitutional Act No. 110/1998 Coll., on the Security of the Czech Republic.

The Government of the Czech Republic is responsible to declare the state of emergency by its resolution. The Government shall immediately notify the Chamber of Deputies of the declaration of the state emergency, which may revoke the declaration.

The duration of the state of emergency shall not exceed 30 days. It may be extended only with the prior consent of the Chamber of Deputies.