The Czech Republic has the highest number of people infected with COVID-19 per capita in the entire European Union based on the cumulative number of cases in the last 14 days per 100,000 people.
While in the spring Czechia managed the epidemic very well, and the world media reported on the successes of Czech coronavirus measures, the situation has now deteriorated.
For example, on Tuesday, the daily increase in the number of COVID-19 cases reached a record 4,457, and Czechia moved ahead of Spain, which reports about 302 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Czechia has 25 cases per 100,000 more.
Tuesday’s record got broke on Wednesday when authorities reported another 5,335 people with COVID-19, which is the highest daily increase since the epidemic began.
In recent weeks, a similar jump has also occurred in the number of deaths caused by COVID-19. Since the beginning of last week alone, the total number of deaths has increased by more than a quarter to more than 800 on Wednesday.
However, the increase is not purely a result of a higher number of tests performed, as the ratio of confirmed cases to the number of performed tests also rises.
The number of infected people in the Czech Republic has thus increased at a record pace. Health authorities registered the first 10,000 patients with COVID-19 after three and a half months since the onset of the epidemic. In the following two months, there were another 10,000 cases. However, there are more than 10,000 new cases in the past three days.
The total number of coronavirus cases in the Czech Republic exceeds 95,000, while almost half, 43,764 people, are currently infected. Czechia is now facing further restrictive measures to reduce the growth in the number of new cases.
“We are in a situation of relatively intense growth in the number of cases. Therefore, it is clear that we have to implement more fundamental measures. We have to flatten the curve because, with such a high increase in cases, the capacity of our health system could be in jeopardy within three weeks,” said Minister of Health Roman Prymula.
Along with the deteriorating epidemiological situation, the number of doctors who end up in quarantine because of coronavirus is also growing. Data from the Czech Medical Chamber confirm that there were ten times as many health workers in quarantine in early October than in early September. In total, there are almost 2,500 doctors and nurses in quarantine due to COVID-19.
Title image: A man wearing a face mask to protect from coronavirus, crosses the medieval Charles Bridge in Prague, Czech Republic, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020. Coronavirus infections in the Czech Republic hit a new record high, surpassing 4,000 cases in one day for the first time. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
