Czech Republic to Limit Public Events

The new Czech health minister said on Tuesday tighter restrictions on bars and public events were imminent after his predecessor resigned following a doubling of COVID-19 infections in the country over the past three weeks.

Health Minister Roman Prymula, in a televised interview, said closing hours for bars would be moved up to 10 p.m. from midnight as of Thursday when stricter limits on the number of participants at sporting events will also kick in.

He said that limit would be set at 2,000 seated spectators, down from around 10,000. The health ministry planned to issue further details on the new curbs, to be in place for a trial period of 14 days, at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, he said.

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Its death toll was 522 as of Tuesday, a small fraction of the tens of thousands of victims in countries such as Spain, Britain, and France.

The government lifted most restrictions in the summer, and since then the rate of infection has soared, making it the second-fastest in Europe after Spain when comparing new cases per population on a rolling two-week basis.

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He said the government would focus on securing enough hospital capacity for later in the year.