Czech epidemiologists: Forget about New Year's Eve parties, Christmas visits this year

Unless there is a significant improvement in the epidemiological situation, strict measures must be maintained during the upcoming Christmas holidays, epidemiologists, scientists and doctors told iDNES.cz. According to them, the government should not bow to public pressure and ease the current restrictions. They emphasized that New Year's Eve celebrations in clubs should be forgotten and bars should not open until 2021.

"I think that at the end of the year, basic anti-epidemic measures will still have to remain in force. They should only be relaxed only in the case that the number of new cases in the second half of December would fall to the same low level as they were at the end of June," said immunologist Václav Hořejší.

At that time, there were more than 250 infected people a day throughout the country. "I hope that the government will not succumb to public pressure again and will not loosen it all up again and start a third wave," Hořejší warns. According to him, all restaurants and large shopping centers should definitely remain closed at least until 2021.

According to the president of the Czech Medical Chamber, to loosen restrictions, "There would have to be less than 1,000 new cases a day, positive tests less than 5 percent and a reproduction number below 0.8," Kubek explained.

However, according to Tuček, people can forget about New Year's Eve celebrations in bars this year. “The restaurant should be open until 22:00, but exclusively for food. The tables should have to be spaced farther apart and alcohol would only be served with food," added Tuček.

Jiří Beran, a vaccinologist and director of the Vaccination and Travel Medicine Center, came up with his own solution. According to him, restrictive measures should focus only on the most vulnerable population - seniors over 65 years of age. According to him, they should always wear masks and undergo regular preventive testing for Covid-19.

The Ministry of Health does not want to speculate too much about the measures during Christmas. "Any events related to St. Nicholas, the Christmas holidays and New Year's Eve celebrations will take place according to the measures that will be in force at the time. They will depend on the current epidemiological situation that will exist in the Czech Republic at the time. It is currently not possible to predict it at this time, "said Klára Doláková, a spokeswoman for the ministry, when asked by iDNES.cz.

Minister of Health Jan Blatný stated last week that the measures will be divided into five levels of risk development of the epidemic. The condition will be assessed according to the occurrence of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, the incidence of infection among the elderly, the reproductive number and the share of positive tests in their total number.