Coronavirus update, Feb. 3, 2021: Czech Republic surpasses 1 million cases since start of pandemic

The total number of coronavirus infections since the beginning of the pandemic in the Czech Republic has exceeded 1 million, hitting 1,003,657. The country has a population of 10.65 million. Currenlty, there are 93,043 active cases. The number of newly infected on Tuesday increased by 9,057, which was 133 fewer than a week ago.

The reproduction number R stands for the people infected by one coronavirus-positive person. While on Sunday and Monday, it was above 1.00, Tuesday's data imply a drop to 0.99.

Along with the reproduction number, the other three criteria for the PES score calculation are the average number of the infected per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days, the two-week average number of the infected seniors per 100,000 as well as the share of the hospitalised patients whose COVID-19 infection was proven in hospital only.

While the R drop made the PES index decrease by three points, other three parameters and their slight improvement did not change the PES score.

The number of the infected per 100,000 population in the past 14 days fell, as well as the number of the infected elderly. Hospitals reports fewer patients whose COVID-19 infection was proven in hospital only, but there are still 48 percent of them.

The index has been on the fourth alert degree, from 61 to 75 points, since mid-January, but the valid anti-coronavirus measures in the country still correspond to the strictest, fifth degree.

The EMA approved the AstraZeneca vaccine on Jan. 29. In February, the Czech Republic should get 81,000 doses of this vaccine.

On Monday, Health Minister Blatný said he had expected 335,790 doses of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine from the Pfizer/BioNTech firms and 110,000 doses from Moderna in February. In total, the vaccine producers should deliver 526,000 doses in February.

Bamlanivimab is used to reduce the amount of the virus in the human body and prevent severe symptoms of the disease.

The Czech Republic has agreed on the first delivery of the drug, he said without elaborating.

Babiš said the Czech Republic is also negotiating the purchase of antibody therapy from U.S. pharmaceutical firm Regeneron. The drug is based on monoclonal antibodies, which attack a precise target on the virus and eliminate it.

Babiš's aide Roman Prymula, an epidemiologist and former health minister said Bamlanivimab is given to hospitalized COVID-19 patients to avoid the threatening severe symptoms.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced this week that it started to assess the antibody therapy from Regeneron.

The definition of risky contact is based on, for example, tracing, where hygienists find out how many risky contacts the infected person had. The eRouška app also draws attention to possible risk contacts. According to Prymula, tracing and eRouška have completely failed and are significantly less efficient than expected.

He also said he does not intend to return to his former post as health minister.

Austria has abolished the exceptions for commuters, and Czech cross-border workers commuting to Austria will have to register online and provide a negative antigen or PCR test for COVID-19 once a week. See the full story here.

Source: onemocneni-aktualne.mzcr.cz/covid-19