New COVID-19 cases in Czech Republic drop to lowest level since December

Tests on Sunday in the Czech Republic revealed 2,373 new cases of covid-19, 955 less than a week ago. It was the lowest daily increase since December 13 last year. The number of vaccinated people was also low this Sunday. Paramedics administered 8077 doses of the vaccine at least a day since early March, including weekends. This follows from data on the website of the Ministry of Health.

Since the beginning of the epidemic last March, almost 1.5 million people in the Czech Republic have been proven to be infected with the new coronavirus, half of them this year. So far, on average, tests have revealed about 10,800 new cases of covid every March day. It was about 9,000 in February and 8,200 in January.

However, the daily numbers of new cases have been declining week-on-week since the first weekend in March. The only exception was Friday, March 12, when there were almost 1,800 more cases than on the same day of the previous week.
So far, 24,810 people have died with coronavirus in the Czech Republic, 52 percent this year. The number of deaths has risen by more than 4,000 in March, by about 190 cases per day. The February average was 145 deaths per day and the January 154.

Medical facilities in the Czech Republic continue to face high pressure in connection with the coronavirus epidemic. There were 8007 patients with covid in hospitals on Sunday, of which 1910 were in severe condition. Compared to the previous Sunday, the number of hospitalizations decreased by 758 and the number of severe cases by 125. However, the ministry’s statistics do not include patients who do not show coronavirus symptoms after ten days, although they remain in hospitals.

Hospitals in the Czech Republic continue to be overloaded due to the epidemic. As of this morning, according to data from the Ministry of Health, 12 percent of beds were available in ARO and intensive care units (ICUs), of which about 119 places were public for patients with covid. Over 860 standard beds with oxygen are available for those infected. Additional free capacities are also available on so-called reprofiled beds, otherwise intended to provide care of a different type of expertise.

Vaccination against covid-19, which began in the Czech Republic on December 27, could relieve hospitals. Since then, almost a million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and nearly 359,000 people have both needed doses. At the beginning of March, the vaccination rate accelerated, but the number of doses given this Sunday was about 5,000 lower than a week earlier.

The PES epidemic system’s point score, which previously governed measures against the spread of the disease, remains at 68 points for the third day in a row. This corresponds to the fourth of the five levels of risk, in which the Czechia has been for two weeks. On Sunday, three of the four monitored parameters improved compared to Saturday, with a very slight deterioration in statistics only for the reproduction number, close to 0.86.

Initially, the index was supposed to follow measures against the disease’s spread, but now its value is no longer relevant. Chief Hygienist Pavla Svrčinová should present a new form of the anti-epidemic system this week.