Health Minister Adam Vojtěch (ANO), Chief Hygienist Pavla Svrčinová, and the Director of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics (IHIS) Ladislav Dušek will speak at a press conference this morning on the development of the coronavirus epidemic and planned measures against the spread of the disease. The briefing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. and will be offered live by the news.
The epidemic has been worsening in recent weeks. A risk scenario published a week ago projected about 4,000 newly positive people tested in the Czech Republic for this Monday, with 4,262 newly infected for Monday. At the beginning of November, the risk model expected 1,200 people in hospitals with covid-19 disease; by Sunday, the number of people hospitalized were approaching nine hundred.
On Monday,Vojtěch said, referring to the predictions of the Institute of Epidemiology, that the epidemic situation will continue to worsen over the next two weeks. A turning point could come in five or six weeks, he said. “Higher vaccination rates may improve the trend,” he said.
Only 66 percent of people over the age of 12 who are eligible for vaccines have been immunized, which is insufficient to halt the epidemic. So the government is gradually approving more measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Some of these are aimed at encouraging vaccination.
From November, the availability of tests paid for by health insurance will be reduced, and steps under consideration include a ban on employees entering the workplace without proof of infection-free status. According to the invitation, the plan to combat the epidemic is to be presented by Svrčinová at a press conference.