Czech Republic sets weekend record with 12,472 new COVID-19 cases Saturday

Prague, Oct 25 (CTK) - Saturday's 12,472 new COVID-19 cases is a new record high for a weekend day in the Czech Republic, according to data released by the Health Ministry on Sunday morning.

The total is about 50% more than last Saturday. There are about 154,000 known active COVID-19 cases in the Czech Republic, and the COVID-19-related death toll has reached 2,077.

Friday was one of the four days this week when more than 100 COVID-19 patients died, the Health Ministry stats show. Wednesday saw a record high daily death toll of 121.

A total of 53 deaths have been reported for Saturday, but the figure will be further updated and will most likely increase.

Apart from being weekend daily record, Saturday also saw the so far fourth highest daily increase in the number of new coronavirus cases since March. The three larger increases in new cases were on the three preceding days.

A total of 250,797 people have had tested positive for COVID-19 in Czechia to date, and 94,902 have recovered. Out of the 153,818 currently ill, most patients have a mild course of the disease, with 5,314 currently hospitalized, including 772 in serious condition.

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients and those needing intensive care have been rising steeply, as has the death toll.

COVID-19 testing has also been intensifying in the Czech Republic, with the number of tested samples exceeding 44,000 every day from this Wednesday through Friday. On these three days, the percentage of positive COVID-19 results among the tested samples was always over 30 percent.

The number of tests conducted on Saturday will be released by the ministry later today.

COVID-19 is now spreading fastest in the Zlín district, south Moravia, where 1,115 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants were recorded in the past seven days, followed by the Prostějov and Vsetín districts, also both in south Moravia, with 1,025 cases each. Cheb (west Bohemia) and Teplice (north Bohemia) are the country's only districts where this figure is below 400.

All 14 Czech regions on the updated traffic light map of COVID-19 risk released by the Health Ministry on Friday are red, which indicates a high risk of infection and continued community transfer across the country. On last weekend's map, five districts were still yellow, indicating elevated risk.

In an interview with Radio Z on Saturday, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said that to cope with the epidemic, it will probably be necessary to prolong the month-long national state of emergency beyond its current deadline, which is November 3. The prolongation would need the consent of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Czech parliament.