Government to discuss tightening anti-covid measures

The covid-19 epidemic has started to develop according to a risk scenario and will not stop overnight. The epidemiological situation has deteriorated extremely, and the ministry must respond. The Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch (for YES) told the press today that the government did not agree with the representatives of the future government coalition on some of the planned measures. Vojtech also said that he would remain at the ministry as long as it was needed. According to him, the office cannot be without leadership in this situation. Vojtěch was to transfer to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an approved ambassador to Finland from 1 November.

The government will today consider proposals from the Ministry of Health to limit the spread of the covid-19 epidemic. The resort suggests that restaurant staff have to check tests or vaccinations for customers. It also wants to restore the mandatory wearing of respirators at work. It also strives to ensure that in the regions where the situation is the worst, children over the age of 12 also wear veils when teaching in the classroom. Now it is mandatory only in the common areas of the school.

The Ministry of Health also proposes to end the payment of preventive tests for covid-19 from public health insurance from 1 December, but counts on exceptions. The AntiCovid team of the Together coalition, which together with the coalition of Pirates and Mayors and the Independents, wants to form a future government, does not agree with the termination of the payment. In recent days, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (YES) has called on the opposition to get involved in negotiations on the measures. However, the opposition said it was trying to throw responsibility for the epidemic on it.

Vojtech said today that he was still ready for negotiations. “The epidemiological situation has deteriorated extremely, and I think we need to respond to that,” he said. According to him, the measures proposed by the ministry are not restrictive or “closing”. The government agrees with the opposition that it does not want another lockdown. Vojtech believes that the proposals do not go against the views of the future coalition.

Asked by reporters when he would go as ambassador to Finland, he said he had no deadline. “Given the current situation, I will be with the Ministry of Health for as long as necessary. It is not possible for the ministry to be without leadership now,” he said.

According to Vojtěch, the epidemic has long followed a realistic prediction scenario, but in recent days it has been developing according to a risky one. According to the risk scenario, there could be 1,200 people with covid-19 in hospitals at the beginning of November, 250 of them in intensive care units. According to Vojtěch, in some regions there is a risk of repeated restrictions on deferred hospital care.

According to today’s data from the Ministry of Health, the spread of covid-19 has more than doubled in a single week. There were 3,246 more cases on Tuesday, which is 1,739 more than a week ago and the most per day since April 20. The number of people with covid-19 in hospitals is also increasing, their number has risen by two-fifths to 620 since the previous Tuesday. One hundred people are in a difficult state. The number of deaths is also rising sharply. In the last seven days, 51 people have died with covid-19, while in September, for example, there were 44 deaths.