The Czech Republic reported 281 cases of the new coronavirus on Friday, the largest one-day increase since the end of June, bringing the country’s total to 15,081.
More than three-fifths recovered from the infection. As of Saturday morning, a total of 369 people died, two on Friday, July 24. There are 142 people currently hospitalized, 20 of them in critical conditions.
On Tuesday, July 21, Czech laboratories detected 206 cases, a day later 246. On Thursday, the increase slowed slightly to 235, On Friday it went up again to 280, the highest daily increase since June 28.
There are several local outbreaks in the Czech Republic. The Karviná region with 63 cases, has the highest number of people infected in the last seven days per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Frýdek-Místek region with 36 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Prague registered 38 new cases in the last 24 hours. The increase in recent days is due, among other things, to the outbreak in the Techtle Mechtle nightclub.
From Saturday (July 25) at midnight, it will be mandatory to wear face masks at indoor public gatherings with over 100 people, including cultural and sports events, as well as during weddings or funerals.
From Monday, July 27, the public will be required also to wear a face mask in pharmacies and medical facilities, “where it is not always possible to maintain a two-meter distance from other people”, the Czech government said in an update on its website.
Masks will not be compulsory on trams, trains, or in shopping centers.
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According to Czech Health officials, at least 60 new Covid-19 cases have been linked to a party hosted in Techtle Mechtle on Saturday, July 11.
More than 120 people connected to the outbreak have since been put into quarantine.
The incident suggests just one “super-spreader” could have acted as catalysts for the spread of the disease.
According to Zdeňka Jágrová, Director of the Prague Hygiene Station, “the main spreader of the infection was an asymptomatic person, probably a young woman.”
The party was also attended by some football players from the reserve teams of Sparta Prague, Dukla Prague and Bohemians 1905
Bohemians had to interrupt the training of the youth teams. “The situation does not affect the A-team. The players are currently on holiday and we will start the preparations for the new season on July 27,” the club reassures the fans in a statement.
The number of active coronavirus infections topped 5,000 in the Czech Republic for the first time after labs reported the highest daily rise in nearly a month, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
The Czech Republic had 14,324 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection, with 212 new infections on Tuesday night. So far, 360 people have died. At the moment, there are 647 infected people in Prague.
Last Friday, authorities tightened restrictions in the northeast of the country, reinstating compulsory face coverings, limiting restaurant opening hours and ordering checks on cross-border commuters.
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The lower house of the Czech parliament voted on Tuesday to extend a state of emergency until May 17, a week less than the government had sought, as the country charts a course to emerge from a coronavirus lockdown earlier than forecast.
The extension is a week shorter than the government sought. The prime minister, Andrej Babiš, had asked for an extension until 25 May to be able to keep restrictions on business in place.
The state of emergency was due to expire on 30 April.
The government of Andrej Babiš and the Social Democrats have been trying to secure sufficient support for the extension, but the opposition parties remained firmly against it.
It has announced that it now expects to reopen the economy faster than previously forecast, although not in time for the deadline now set by parliament.
Babis said after the vote that the government would seek legal amendments to keep some restrictions in place after the state of emergency ends, news agency CTK reported.
The state of emergency allows the government to adopt measures to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, such as limitations on free movement inside the country and across borders, shop and restaurant closures, and streamlined procurement of medical supplies.
Prague was one of the few governments to declare a state of emergency before the country had recorded its first coronavirus death.
By 11 March it had closed all schools, limited public gatherings, banned all public events, sealed its borders, and shuttered all non-essential stores. It also made face masks obligatory in public.
PM Babis’ cabinet declared a state of emergency — the median of three possible states of crisis — on 12 March.
Almost 7,500 people have been tested positive for the coronavirus in the Czech Republic, according to government figures released on Tuesday, 225 have died.
On Saturday shortly before midnight, a large Ukrainian aircraft An-124 Ruslan landed at Pardubice Airport with five million masks, two million respirators, 120,000 protective suits, 80,000 protective goggles, and tens of thousands of coronavirus tests from Shenzhen, China.
The flight cost 35 million crowns. According to the Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch, it is one of the largest transports of medical material in the history of the Czech Republic.
According to the Minister of the Interior, three flights with similar loads should land two more times, on Tuesday and Friday.
From China, the aircraft flew through Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and refueled in Karachi. The reason for this route is the tense relations between Ukraine and Russia.
Masks and respirators from China will not remain in the warehouse for a long time. “They will be distributed immediately by the fire brigade,” said Martin Netolický, Governor of the Pardubice Region. Firefighters will allocate 35 cars and 75 people for the distribution.
“We are finally getting to the point when a relatively large number of respirators and masks are entering the Czech Republic. We can equip healthcare workers, but also the population,” said Roman Prymula.
Už je tady… 🙂 #spolutozvladneme pic.twitter.com/XNmSKLQYlU
— Jan Hamáček (@jhamacek) March 21, 2020
On Wednesday, a Czech aircraft landed in Prague-Kbely, carrying 150,000 testings kit for the coronavirus disease COVID-19.
On Friday, a planeload with one million respirators has arrived in the Czech Republic from China.
The deliveries have cost the Interior Ministry 1.5 billion crowns so far.
The projection is that with every new week that the epidemic lasts the country will spend another billion crowns on medical equipment.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Czech Republic reached 995 on Saturday, with 106 new cases registered that day.
Sixive people have fully recovered from COVID-19.