First Czech COVID patient sent to Poland
An ambulance transported a Czech patient with COVID-19 from Ústí nad Orlicí Hospital in East Bohemia to a hospital in Racibórz, Poland. A doctor accompanied the patient, who requires a ventilator, on the 2.5 hour journey. The capacities of hospitals in the Pardubice Region are almost exhausted, especially at hospitals in Pardubice, Chrudim and Ústí nad Orlicí. The preparation was demanding, as medical records needed to be translated and other administrative details had to be done for the first time. "Now it will be easier for everyone, if necessary," Pardubice Governor Martin Netolický said.
COVID-related deaths in Prague now over 2,000
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 2,014 people have died in Prague due to coronavirus, with 913 since the beginning of this year. The daily maximum was 28 deaths on Monday, On Tuesday, there were 1,768 newly confirmed cases of the disease in the capital, 245 fewer than a week ago. Currently there are 19,948 active cases in the city.
January death toll sets a record
The Czech Republic had 15,900 deaths in January, which has been the highest number of fatalities that occurred this month since 1950 and it is markedly more than the average January number of deaths in the last five years, the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ) said. In the last several years, from 9,500 to 12,400 died in the country in January. Until now, the highest number of deaths was 15,300 in January 1970 when the country was hit by the Hong Kong flu. The January number of deaths was higher than the number of people who died last November when the autumn coronavirus wave culminated. According to the ČSÚ, there were 100 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in the Czech Republic on average in January in 2015–19, while this January it was 148 deaths per 100,000.
Health Ministry data says, 4,767 people with COVID died in January, which is the second highest monthly figure after November 2020 when there were 4,973 coronavirus victims.
Survey: Many firms violate anti-COVID rules
One-fifth of Czech employees have experienced their employer or superior violating the anti-COVID measures and one in seven says the employer or boss called for ignoring the testing and tracing rules, according to a survey by the Life During Pandemic project. Some employers told their COVID-ill employees to stay at home without going to tests and others wanted their employees to go to work though they had contacts with a COVID infected or had mild symptoms of the disease themselves. Moreover, one in seven employees was prevented from working from home though this would be possible. On the other hand, two-fifths of employees described a responsible approach of their firms to the anti-epidemic rules. More than one-fifth of them were testing their staff for the novel coronavirus even before this duty was officially imposed.
Antigen testing starts at civil service offices
Mandatory antigen testing starts today at the civil service offices with 50 and more staff. Part of the tests originally purchased for schools should be used for testing in the state administration. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has been testing its employees since Monday, and the Ministry of Health started testing on Tuesday.
Firms with 250 or more employees launched testing on March 3 and have to complete testing all employees by March 12. Mid-sized companies with 50–249 staff started testing on March 5 and should finish by March 15. Testing at companies with under 50 employees is expected to start in the coming weeks.
Croatia offers help with COVID patients
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has offered help with the treatment of COVID-19 patients to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, he tweeted. "I had a phone called with (Czech and Slovak PMs) Andrej Babiš and Igor Matovič today and if need be, Croatia is willing to take care of a dozen patients from each of these countries," Plenkovic wrote on Twitter last night. Croatia has not been heavil affected by the pandemic and is already slowly relaxing its lockdown. Restaurant outdoor premises have opened in some Croatian regions in the past week, for instance.
Half of teachers distrust government COVID information
Around 49 percent of techers said they distrusted the Czech government's information on the coronavirus epidemic, while 29 percent had a favorable opinion. The poll was conducted by the polling institute Focus in cooperation with the educational program JSNS for the European People's Party.
" Almost 40 percent of [teachers under 34] consider the coronavirus epidemic an inflated media bubble, denoting COVID-19 as a common viral disease. They think that regular wearing of face masks damages health and do not want to be inoculated as this is dangerous," JSNS program director Karel Strachota said.
Teachers can be presumed to pass their attitudes on to their pupils, he added. The poll was conducted on 700 teachers from 200 elementary and secondary schools in January.
COVID spread continues to slow down, but hospitalizations still high
Revised data for Monday show a new record high of 8,969 hospitalized over COVID-19, out of whom 1,873 were in a serious condition, while on Tuesday, there were 8,618 hospitalized people, including 1,853 in a serious condition, according to the Health Ministry data released today.
There were 15,196 new COVID cases on Tuesday, roughly 1,600 fewer than a week ago. Compared to the previous week, new case numbers have been lower since Sunday. The reproduction number R slightly dropped again, from 0.97 on Tuesday to 0.95. A figure under one indicates that the epidemic slows down. The PES index remained at 73 points for the second day, which corresponds to the fourth out of the five degrees. All four parameters used to calculate the PES index mildly decreased.
Latest COVID-19 data from the Czech Ministry of Health (March 10, 2021)
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