February Saw Deaths in the Czech Republic Increase by a Third

According to data from the Czech Statistical Office, over 4000 people died in February alone. The ministry believes thousands of people are dying from the virus every month.

Still, compared to January, covid-related deaths fell by two and a half thousand. The Czech Statistical Office (CZSO) looked at data from a five-year period of 2015-2019 and determined that February was about 36 percent higher than the average number of deaths in the Czech Republic pre-pandemic.

The country’s death toll was the highest in January of this year where it reached over 51 percent higher than the five-year average previously recorded with 15,900 reported dead.

The report also found that the region with the highest increase in deaths was Karlovy Vary which lost almost three times as many people more than usual.

“The February number of deaths was higher than in the average of 2015–2019 in all regions, but while in the Vysočina Region and the Zlín Region only by one and four percent, respectively, in the Karlovy Vary Region by an extreme 168 percent,” said Michaela Němečková from the CZSO.

In the Karlovy Vary region, 837 died in February alone, up from the 312 monthly average before the pandemic.

The Hradec Králové region follows closely behind where in February, the death toll increased by 90 percent higher than the five-year average before the pandemic.

Not included in the CZSO announcement, was the grim statistics for March which saw an average of 194 deaths a day due to the virus.

The Czech Republic ranks among the highest in the world in terms of number of deaths. Since last March, the country has reached 2500 deaths for every one million people.

Since the start of the pandemic,1.48 million people have been infected and the current covid-related death toll stands at 27,169 people in total.

Despite current conditions, the country is poised to let the state of emergence expire on Apr. 11 and has the Prime Minister has expressed the government will not seek to renew it.