Czech Republic reports 5,864 new COVID-19 cases

There were 5,864 new coronavirus cases in the Czech Republic on Thursday, which is about 1,200 more than a week earlier. The number of hospitalized has increased by approximately 100 to 4,429. For several days now, the reproductive number has been rising, indicating the average number of other people who become infected from one positive test. Its value is now 1.16. The index of the anti-epidemic system PES remains at 64 points. According to data from the Ministry of Health, the sixth day is thus above the limit of the fourth degree of alert.

Since March, laboratories in the Czech Republic have detected 569,205 infected. About 498,000 of them were cured. There are currently approximately 62,000 people in the country with confirmed covid-19 infection, most of which are mild. 550 patients were in severe condition in hospitals on Thursday. Another 115 deaths were added to the statistics. 9,341 people have died with coronavirus in the Czech Republic so far.

Laboratories performed about 23,500 tests on Thursday, a quarter of which had a positive result. On Wednesday, 26 percent were tested. On Tuesday, about 23 percent.

The third degree of risk still applies in the country. According to the rules, the Minister of Health Jan Blatný (for YES) should consider tightening it again after three days, when the score will correspond to a stricter degree of measures than is the case. Blatný said on Thursday after the government meeting that the government will do so in the event of further negative development of the covid-19 epidemic on Monday.

The PES score calculation is based, among other things, on the value of the reproduction number. At the end of November, it fell to 0.8, but since then it has been growing slightly every day. It swung over number one on Sunday.

The increase in coronavirus infections has been steadily accelerating for several days in the week-on-week comparison. Since last Thursday, daily increases have been higher than on the same day of the previous week. Previously, daily increments have been declining since October and November, when they reached record levels of around 15,000 cases.

The most affected region has been Havlíčkův Brod for several weeks now, where in the last seven days, they have recorded 505 infected people per 100,000 inhabitants. On the contrary, the Český Krumlov region is relatively the best, with 122 infected people per 100,000 inhabitants.

If the epidemic continues to worsen, the government could discuss tightening measures on Monday by Christmas. However, stores would remain open even in a tightening to the fourth degree, regardless of the range offered. The tightening would also apply to schools, and the extension of the Christmas holidays by two days is also at stake. The cabinet decided that the state of emergency in the Czech Republic will apply until 23 December. He is likely to ask Members again for another extension before the holidays.