In the past week, there were 17,100 new cases of Covid-19 throughout the Czech Republic. Photo Credit: Freepik
Prague, Sept 30 (CTK) – The COVID-19 epidemic continues accelerating in the Czech Republic, with almost 17,100 new cases in the past seven days, up 1,300 from the previous week. The figure increased despite Wednesday being a national holiday with a lower number of performed COVID tests, according to data from the Health Ministry.
The number of hospitalised COVID patients has risen by around 370 from last Friday, to the current figure of 1,361. Out of the patients, 46 are in serious condition, a 50% increase week-on-week.
On Wednesday, only a few hundred new cases were detected. The daily peak in the past week was Monday, when 4,731 new cases were confirmed, the highest daily figure since the first half of April.
On Thursday, 3,670 new infections were confirmed.
The daily number of infections has been rising since early September, with a few exceptions at weekends and on the 28 September holiday. Experts expect the situation to deteriorate in the coming months. Doctors recommend that people get vaccinated or revaccinated against COVID-19.
This week, the daily number of newly confirmed coronavirus cases exceeded 4,000 for the first time since the first half of April. Monday saw 4,731 new cases, Tuesday 4,211, Wednesday’s holiday, 763, and Thursday 3,670.
In the previous week, the highest daily number was 3,757 cases on Monday, 19 September.
Almost 65,600 antigen and PCR tests for COVID-19 were performed by laboratories in the past seven days, a decrease of 5,600 from the previous week. The decrease is probably due to the Wednesday holiday, as fewer people seek COVID testing on holidays, as on weekends.
About 13,400 people were tested on Thursday, 1,300 more than a week ago. The positivity rate has increased for all types of tests, compared with the previous week.
For the most frequent diagnostic tests, targeting people with symptoms of COVID, the positivity rate reached almost 35% on Thursday.
Over 4.1 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed since the outbreak of the epidemic in March 2020, from a population of 10.5 million, (excluding reinfection cases). The Health Ministry has registered almost 335,000 cases of reinfection, including 1,467 cases on Thursday.
A total of 41,090 patients have died from COVID in the Czech Republic. In the past seven days, the death toll was 70, which is 15 more than in the preceding week, according to the Ministry of Health.
A total of 6.89 million people have been vaccinated against COVID so far. 4.3 million have received a booster jab and some 300,500 have received the second booster dose.
Almost 39,000 vaccinations were administered in the past seven days, 10,000 fewer than in the previous week. About 9,600 got vaccinated on Thursday, most of them seeking boosters.
