Coronavirus in the Czech Republic: The Latest

The Czech Republic reported 7,301 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, falling below 10,000 for the first time since October 19.

The country has reported a total of 258,097 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic started in March. There are 158,515 active cases currently. Deaths have climbed to 2,201.

The number of hospitalisations has risen to 5,345, and those in intensive care number 800.

The Czech Republic will get 30 ventilators from the European Union and is seeking more help and equipment abroad to help grapple with the continent’s worst outbreak of the new coronavirus, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Thursday.

“An extension of the state of emergency is inevitable, at least until December 3”, announced the Minister of Health Roman Prymula.

The Czech government will almost certainly have to tighten its anti-coronavirus measures again as current curbs have not halted a surge in infections.

PM Babis said he could not imagine a full lockdown being put in place but said some measures could include firms having to test employees.

Based on the statements of the Minister of Health, the following measures are under discussion:

• Home office could not only be recommended but mandatory
• The state would order large companies to close for two weeks
• A much stricter ban on clustering could be announced
• In the past, Czech politicians cited Israel as an example of a country with very strict measures that “we should have followed”. Israelis were allowed to move no more than 500 meters away from home.

Slovakia

Slovakia’s pilot testing in coronavirus hotspots attracted tens of thousands people over the weekend, showing an infection rate of 3.87%, government data showed on Sunday.

The government plans to widen the scope to the whole country next weekend and hopes the antigen tests, along with a partial lockdown, can help curbing a sharp rise in infections.

The tests were administered between Friday and Sunday at around 235 sites in four northern regions that are home to about 180,000 people.

Worldwide

Almost 43 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,153,625 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries.