VIDEO: Prymula: “I Didn’t Break Any Rules, I Won’t Resign”

The Minister of Health Roman Prymula rejected the invitation of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš to resign.

The scandal erupted on Friday when tabloid Blesk ran pictures of Health Minister Roman Prymula leaving a restaurant and entering a car without a face mask, a violation of rules that closed restaurants, and required wearing masks in most places including chaffeured cars.

Zde je odpověď na otázku, zda je možné jít s kamarádem na procházku. pic.twitter.com/xGGW7Vs2Nj

— Roman Prymula (@profesorPrymula) October 22, 2020

Prymula denied any wrongdoing and refused to step down, further escalating the crisis. He said he was invited to participate in a meeting with a hospital director and only went through the restaurant to a private space where it took place.

In an interview with Respekt, Prymula said that he “didn’t break any particular measure” and the only mistake has been not wearing the face mask when getting into the car.

Faltynek apologized for the meeting and said he asked Prymula to meet to discuss a special parliamentary ysession that is set to approve a plan for NATO military medical personnel to come to the Czech Republic to help their local colleagues.

According to the current measures, restaurants should be closed, and facemasks must now be worn at all times in the presence of other people.

Opposition leaders called on Mr. Prymula to resign, accusing him of arrogance and hypocrisy.

The day-to-day increase of new confirmed cases reached 14,151 on Thursday, the second biggest after a record of almost 15,000 set a day earlier.

The country has confirmed 223,065 positive cases, about a third of them in the last seven days while 1,845 have died.