Czech President Milos Zeman was being taken back to the hospital on Thursday after testing positive for coronavirus, local news media reported. Zeman, who had been released from hospital earlier on Thursday after more than six weeks for a different treatment, was not showing symptoms, according to a report by radio station Frekvence 1. Spokespeople for the president and hospital were not immediately available. Zeman — a heavy smoker and drinker who has suffered from diabetes — has trouble walking and has been using a wheelchair. His condition was attributed to an unspecified chronic disease. As president, Zeman has a key role in establishing a new government and is set to swear in the new coalition government led by Petr Fiala on Friday. A three-party, liberal-conservative coalition known as Together — composed of the Civic Democratic Party, Christian Democrats and the TOP 09 party — won the election with a 27.8% share of the vote. Together teamed up with a liberal coalition made up of the Pirate Party and STAN — a group of mayors and independent candidates — which came in third place with 15.6% of votes. Zeman is the first Czech president to be directly elected twice by...
The Czech government has declared the new state of emergency from Nov. 26 for 30 days until December 26, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said today. The reason for the state of emergency is the worsening SARS-CoV-2 epidemic and allows the government to impose a work duty on medics in regions with the highest number of Covid-19 cases. The government has been considering a ban on large public events and limiting the opening hours of restaurants and bars rather than a full lockdown. “We will take further measures to limit contacts,” added Babiš. Even before the cabinet meeting, the Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch discussed his proposals with the Anticovid team of the future government. “The governors do not have to agree with the state of emergency. But we will try to persuade them,” said Dan Köppl, a spokesman for the Minister of Health. Negotiations with the Anticovid team showed that the ministry will propose not only a state of emergency but also the restriction of mass events over a thousand people, the closure of pubs, restaurants, the closure of nightclubs and bars at 10 p.m, the abolition of Christmas markets. “We are taking all measures to avoid a lockdown that,...
Black Friday, the most awaited discount holiday of the year, is set to bring enormous customer interest this year. Experts predict this year could be a record in online sales and claim it will even significantly exceed last year’s results when in-store shops were closed due to the pandemic. Shoptet, which manages over 28,000 e-shops, claims there is billions to be made online this year. “During the Black Friday weekend, we expect e-shop sales to be around four billion crowns,” says Samuel Huba, CEO of the company. “The greatest interest should be in toys, electronics, and games on computers and consoles.” Black Friday, which will begin on November 26 and extend across the weekend, is a hot topic in the Czech Republic, especially for large e-shops. Several retailers have even launched discount promotions before November 26 this year, which aroused unprecedented interest among customers. “This year is extreme in that people shop in bulk two weeks before the classic Black Friday,” explained Jindřich Kadeřávek, head of Element Logic Czech Republic, which supplies automated warehousing solutions to the Czech market. “In addition to fears of a shortage of goods, they are also afraid of a possible further lockdown.”
This morning, Health Minister Adam Vojtěch had a briefing with the incoming government to discuss the introduction of new measures. Vojtěch again said that the introduction of more stringent measures is necessary. Cabinet in resignation of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (YES) will discuss tightening measures on Thursday afternoon due to the deteriorating epidemiological situation in the fight against Covid-19. What to expect? A state of emergency is expected to be declared. According to Novinky.cz, the ministers are to vote on a ban on sports and other events or the closing of bars and restaurants at 10 pm. There are also going to be restrictions on Christmas markets. According to information from ČTK, the government is expected to declare a state of emergency with almost immediate effect, ie probably from Friday, and soon after, the measures related to it will also come into force. As for the new measures, he said it would be a reduction in contacts, not complete closure of the country. Major sporting and cultural events should be curtailed. Bars and restaurants should also be closed after 10 pm. Closing the Christmas markets is also possible, but an exception could be made for those held outdoors. Fiala: Society...
Czech President Milos Zeman has been released from hospital after more than six weeks, the Central Military Hospital in Prague (UVN) said on Thursday. Zeman, 77, was admitted to hospital on Oct. 10 with complications to a chronic illness that his office never specified but which doctors said was a liver condition. He went into hospital a day after a parliamentary election in which Zeman’s allies, led by Prime Minister Andrej Babis, lost to a centre-right coalition and the president’s leverage over parliament was undermined. Zeman was initially treated in an intensive care unit and doctors said the prognosis was uncertain. Parliament prepared to debate taking away his presidential duties but after several weeks Zeman’s condition improved. He has said he will respect the election result and that he will appoint centre-right leader Peter Fiala as prime minister on Friday, with the appointment of the cabinet to follow later. The hospital said the president had decided to continue treatment at the presidential retreat at Lany, west of Prague, despite suggestions from the hospital that he should stay. The hospital said Zeman, his family and closest colleagues had been informed about potential risks and complications and that it had recommended he...
The National Museum in Prague opened a new permanent exhibition dedicated to prehistory on Nov. 24. Windows to prehistory display about two thousand artifacts, mainly in the field of paleontology, but also mineralogy. The exhibition is arranged chronologically. In the Proterozoic section, visitors will find a lot of trilobites and fossilized plants. Among the fossils is also cooksonia — a fossil of the oldest designated terrestrial vascular plant in the world, which the museum has had in its collections for more than a hundred years. It comes from the collections of Joachim Barrand and the specimen lived on Earth about 432 million years ago. It measures about six centimeters. This is followed by a walk through history to the Quaternary in the Czech lands, which will enliven the models of prehistoric animals, tell the story of the saber-toothed tiger, mammoth and cub. It will also introduce the only Czech dinosaur, Burianosaur. Showcases in black frames are part of a design that architect Renata Slámková helped create for the National Museum. The black moving rollers above the showcases will represent the terrain of the Czech landscape through lights and shadows. The luminous fibers play the ceiling of the exhibition hall to...
If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix. The Chcípl PES anti-lockdown movement will stage another protest rally against the government and its anti-epidemic measures in the Prague Letna Park on Sunday, the organizers have told journalists. The coalition of Together (Civic Democrats, ODS, Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL, TOP 09) and the Pirates with Mayors and Independents (STAN), forming the new Czech government, will not close schools over the Covid situation, ODS head Petr Fiala told journalists. Czech President Miloš Zeman should be released from the Military University Hospital in Prague on Thursday before mid-day, news site Seznam Zprávy reports. The former holiday home of writer Bohumil Hrabal is expected to be bought by the Czech state and turned into an exhibition space. Hrabal’s summer house, located in Kersko just 30 kilometers east of Prague, was put on the market earlier this year for a value of almost 12 million Kc. Germany donated 10,000 doses of the Covid-19 antibody drugs from Regeneron to the Czech Republic. Some hospitals are running out of antibody drugs that were administered to patients with a higher...
The Slovak government on Wednesday approved a two-week national lockdown amid a record surge of coronavirus infections. Prime Minister Eduard Heger said the measures that become effective on Friday will target all, both unvaccinated and vaccinated. Under the lockdown, people can leave their homes only for some specific reasons. These include buying essential goods, traveling to work and school or getting vaccinated. The unvaccinated will be required to get tested to get to work if they have not recovered from COVID-19. Also, up to 1,000 service members a day will be helping the struggling health sector to deal with the pandemic. The Health Ministry said Wednesday that daily infections surpassed 10,000 for the first time, with 10,315 testing positive on Tuesday. That’s over 1,000 more than the previous record registered Friday. With 13,080 infections in the last seven days per 1 million people, the nation of 5.5 million is facing the worst surge in the world, according to Our World In Data. “We’re losing the battle against COVID,” President Zuzana Caputova said Tuesday. On Monday, Slovakia imposed new restrictions targeting the unvaccinated, who are banned from all nonessential stores and shopping malls. They’re also not allowed to attend any public events or gatherings....
Znojmo is not a big city but it’s one that’s home to a set of unique tours, on which visitors will discover an intriguing underground tunnel system. The Znojmo Catacombs are a fantastic labyrinth of underground passageways. However, they are not actually catacombs and no people are actually buried there. The Znojmo Catacombs were developed for defensive purposes to defend the city from attack. They date back to the 1300s and were expanded over the centuries by connecting various cellars beneath buildings with each other. The end result was houses and palaces in the city connected with an elaborate labyrinth. Some of the tunnels lead under old fortifications and even out of the city – so that inhabitants would have an escape in case the city would have fallen or to get out of the city and forage for food in times of siege. The caverns were well constructed and they have plenty of airshafts. The cellars had fireplaces that were connected to chimneys of houses on the surface. The smoke from the tunnels would rise through the chimneys of the houses and hide the tunnels beneath. Inside the tunnels, water wells were built so that the inhabitants could survive for a...
On February 7, 2000, the United Nations (UN) officially designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. As in previous years, the day will be commemorated through 16 days of activism starting today and ending on December 10, International Human Rights Day. This will include a series of events, digital initiatives as well as ‘making orange’ some iconic buildings and landmarks as a reminder of the mission to end violence against women. A new UN Women report, due to be published today, gathered data from 13 countries* which revealed that COVID-19 has eroded women’s feelings of safety, both at home and in public spaces, with significant negative impacts on their mental and emotional well-being. As countries went into lockdown to stop the spread of the virus, violence against women intensified, especially domestic violence, and the challenges of reporting it grew. In the Czech Republic, the organisation Rosa, which provides counselling for victims of domestic violence and gender-based violence, has reported that the number of calls received has doubled during the pandemic, and the length of calls has increased threefold. Safety Line has seen an increase of 25% in contacts by online chat, many of which...
The Czech Republic reported 25,864 new coronavirus cases for Tuesday, the highest daily tally recorded in the country since the pandemic started, Health Ministry data showed on Wednesday. The Covid incidence rate, the number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, also reaches record values. As of Tuesday, there are 1,061 confirmed cases of infection for every 100,000 inhabitants. Compared to other countries in the world, the Czech Republic is in third place. Only other European countries have higher incidence rate: Slovakia, Austria, and Slovenia. The number of people who are currently in the hospital also continues to grow. According to recent data, there are 5,652 hospitalized, about 100 less than on Monday. According to the Ministry of Health, 799 covid patients are in a critical condition, the highest figure since April 21 this year. On November 21, 2021, the Czech Republic reported approximately two million confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19). According to the Ministry of Health, more than 12.9 million PCR tests were performed.
Having a roof over your head during the cold winter days and feeling safe should not be something one must prove to be worthy of. Everyone deserves to have a home, and everyone has the right to feel secure. Despite this, the UN-Habitat has found that a shocking 1.6 billion people live in inadequate housing conditions. What is worse, homelessness is becoming more and more prevalent as time goes on. Understanding how grave this is, cities and governments all over the globe are working on finding ways to help those who do not have access to housing. However, only a handful of them are succeeding in bringing about meaningful change. Ever since the outbreak of the pandemic, Prague has increased its efforts to help homeless individuals. Last year, it built an integrated system of emergency housing solutions using EU funds. With this system, citizens who found themselves at risk of – or already in – a housing emergency could access support at one of the Contact Points for Housing in the city’s districts. There, depending on one’s situation, they could either obtain counselling, legal aid, or temporary housing. Also in 2020, Prague unveiled a crisis accommodation program, providing homeless citizens with...
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