Czech Republic reports 21,126 new COVID-19 cases

 There were 21,126 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Czech Republic on Wednesday, more than a week ago. After Tuesday’s week-on-week decline, this time the increase was about 3,100 higher than last Wednesday. There were 6,561 patients with coronavirus in hospitals on Wednesday, 1,064 of whom were in severe condition. The incidence number got back over 1200, today there are 1222 newly confirmed diseases per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days, the previous day it was 1194. According to data on the website of the Ministry of Health. The reproduction number, which indicates how many people infect one with a positive test, has returned above one. It is currently 1.01, ministry spokesman Daniel Köppl told ČTK.

The previous day, the reproduction number fell below one for the first time since the end of August, reaching 0.97. If the number is above one, the epidemic accelerates, the figure below one indicates a slowdown. Previously, according to the Ministry of Health, the last time was below the break-even point was 24 August.

In the last two weeks, the daily number of new infections in six days has exceeded 20,000. The highest period during the epidemic was last Thursday, when it reached 28,000. According to mathematical models, hospitals are overwhelmed in the coming weeks. The number of hospitalized patients with covid-19 in the week increased by about 400 to 6561 on Wednesday, compared to Tuesday, when, according to revised data, 6845 patients required hospital care, but fell by about 300. There have been more than a thousand infected people in hospitals for three days now.

Some hospitals have already announced in recent days that they are on the verge of their capacity. From several facilities, the infected were mostly transported to Prague. The resigned Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (YES) told reporters on Tuesday that the health service now still has a reserve to deal with the covid epidemic. But it has a shortage of thousands of paramedics who are on sick leave or nursing home. According to him, the failure of the staff could complicate the care and the planned more massive vaccinations.

To date, healthcare professionals have administered almost 13.6 million doses of the vaccine. On Wednesday, their number increased by 83,765, which is about 24,000 more than a week ago. Almost 13,000 people came for the first dose on Wednesday, similar to Tuesday. There were about 14,000 more booster doses than on Tuesday, about 60,000 people received it. Vaccination should be supported by the initiative Doctors Help the Czech Republic, which wants to supplement the capacities of vaccination centers with the possibility of getting vaccinated at a designated time in any surgery of the participating doctor. The initiative aimed to speed up vaccination with third doses of the vaccine.

The labs performed about 112,000 tests on Wednesday, about 16,500 less than a week ago. However, the data on the performed tests from the previous day are reflected in the statistics with a delay. According to interim statistics, the share of positive samples in the case of preventive tests increased to 9.92 percent on Wednesday in a week-on-week comparison, a week earlier it was less than seven percent. In the so-called diagnostic indication, when people showing symptoms are tested, the positivity increased from 28 percent to 37.63 percent. For the epidemiological indication, where people are tested for contact with the infected, tests confirmed the infection in 17.34 percent of people, which is about four percentage points more than a week ago.

Incidence has risen to date in all regions except Central Bohemia, Pilsen and Karlovy Vary. The worst situation is still in the Olomouc region, where there are 1666 infected people per 100,000 inhabitants in the last seven days. This is followed by the Zlín Region with an incidence of 1605. The Karlovy Vary Region is still relatively the best, with 449 covid cases per 100,000 inhabitants last week. In no other region is the incidence lower than 900.

Since last March, when the first infections with a new type of coronavirus were confirmed in the Czech Republic, covid-19 has been diagnosed in 2,193,289 people, with the worst situation in the just-concluded month of November. The total number of positive tests reached over 405,000 in the past month of the epidemic. The Ministry of Health records 33,317 deaths with a confirmed infection.