Doctors are reporting a notable increase in COVID cases over the past week. From Monday to Wednesday alone, 1,483 confirmed cases were recorded, contributing to the nearly 14,000 cases documented since the beginning of the year. This uptick follows the typical seasonal pattern also seen in other respiratory illnesses.
“Hundreds of new patients have been appearing daily since the end of August. The situation will likely worsen as we move into autumn and the colder season, which favors respiratory diseases,” warns Pavel Dlouhý, Chairman of the Infectious Disease Society of the Czech Medical Association of J.E. Purkyně. Currently, around fifty people are hospitalized with the disease.
Last year during the same period, the numbers of confirmed cases were very similar, with the upward trend peaking in October when more than two thousand new cases were recorded in a single day. Health officials continue to emphasize that the elderly, immunocompromised individuals, cardiac patients, and diabetics remain at highest risk from COVID infections.
Barbora Macková, Director of the State Health Institute and Chief Hygienist, has confirmed that “New vaccines adapted to the current virus variants are already available in the Czech Republic.”Vaccination remains recommended by doctors, particularly for vulnerable groups, similar to flu prevention strategies.
Despite its longevity in our society, COVID continues to have a significant impact. “COVID still causes more deaths in our country than influenza,” Dlouhý reminded the public. Since the first cases of this previously unknown infection appeared in China in December 2019 – now six years ago – Czech statistics indicate that 4.8 million people have been infected nationwide.