3,130 new cases of novel coronavirus were detected in the Czech Republic yesterday, surpassing 3,000 in one day for the first time. As Prague goes “red”, universities in the city will close and tuition will move online. Photo: Prague. Credit: BD Staff.
Czech Rep., Sep 18 (BD) – Stricter governmental restrictions enter in force today. Health Minister Adam Vojtěch yesterday admitted that the situation regarding the novel coronavirus in the Czech Republic is “not good”, and announced the tightening of measures. (Read more in our previous article: “Health Minister Announces New Restrictions As Czech Rep. To Turn Orange This Weekend¨)
At Thursday’s press conference, Ladislav Dušek, Director of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics, said that the new district-by-district risk map to be published this weekend will categorise most of the country as “orange”, meaning incipient community-based transmission.
Thursday’s increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the Czech Republic is similar to the number of new cases in the whole of March. The current reproductive number is 1.6.
Universities to close as Prague turns “red”
Prague will turn “red” in the traffic light system used to monitor the spread of coronavirus in the Czech Republic. “Red” means increasing or persistent community-based transmission; “yellow” means incipient community-based transmission; and “green” means occurrence of the infection without risk of community-based transmission.
In response to a situation worsening daily, the Mayor of Prague, Zdeněk Hřib (Piráti), announced that the city’s universities would switch to distance learning. The original announcement mistakenly implied that the measure would also apply to secondary schools.
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš announced that the Central Crisis Staff (ÚKŠ) will resume activities.
