Czech Republic falls from first in class to verge of second COVID-19 lockdown, writes international media

London/Brussels/Berlin, Oct 13 (CTK) - The Czech Republic has fallen from the top of the class to the verge of a second lockdown, the Reuters, AP, and AFP news agencies have written while covering the new series of measures announced by the Czech government yesterday to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Among other restrictions issued on Monday, the government approved the closure of schools, restaurants, and bars that will apply until early November.

The Guardian and Politico noted that while the Czech government's reaction to the pandemic was fast and firm in the spring, the rising COVID-19 cases numbers in the summer did not bring decisive actions.

"The Czech Republic was widely praised for its initial handling of the pandemic amid major outbreaks in the spring," Politico writes.

"It was the first European country to mandate the wearing of face masks in public and to begin relaxing lockdown measures as the virus receded. But the government was slow to react when infection numbers began to rise again in August, imposing new, timid measures only when the number of daily infections approached and passed 1,000."

"The Czech Republic could be set for a second lockdown following a dramatic rise in COVID-19 infections that has transformed it into Europe’s fastest growing outbreak just months after being hailed as one of the continent’s success stories in managing the pandemic," the Guardian writes.

The Guardian also points to the fact that the Czech Republic lifted nearly all previously adopted anti-coronavirus restrictions by the end of June. However, when the statistics started worsening in August, the measures were not imposed again.

"(PM Andrej) Babiš, who initially vetoed proposals to reimpose mask rules before backtracking, has sought to deflect blame partly onto a supposedly non-compliant public, which he said was less willing than before to follow the rules," The Guardian adds.

The news agencies and other media pay attention to the worrying numbers according to which Czechia is the most COVID-19 inflicted country in Europe. In early September, the total number of COVID-19 infections since March stood at 25,000; now, it is nearly 120,000, writes Reuters.

Last week, a record of more than 8,600 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the Czech Republic in a single day. Measured per capita, it would be the equivalent of the US reporting over a quarter million COVID-19 infections in a single day, Politico writes. The record number of infections reported in the US in a single day was about 77,000 in July.