With new infections soaring due to a highly contagious COVID-19 variant and hospitals filling up, one of the hardest-hit countries in the EU is facing the inevitable: the tightest lockdown since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Friday said the new series of measures is necessary “to protect the lives of our citizens.”
“We have to do it prevent a total collapse of our hospitals,” Babis said. “If we don’t do it, the whole world will watch Bergamo in the Czech Republic.”
Photo: AP
He said his government made mistakes in dealing with the pandemic in the past, but called on the Czechs to abide by the rules that are becoming effective tomorrow for three weeks, with a goal “to stop the virus and return to normalcy.”
Among the strictest restrictions, the government is set to limit free movement of people by not allowing them to travel to other counties unless they go to work or have to take care about their relatives.
“If it’s possible, stay at home,” Czech Minister of the Interior Jan Hamacek said.
Hamacek said the measure would be enforced by police and military forces.
If people go out for sports or just a walk, they should not leave their municipality.
Further measures include the closure of nursery schools and schools for children with disabilities that until now have remained open.
Only the stores with essential goods are to remain open.
“It’s not the best timing, it is in fact late,” Jan Konvalinka, a biochemist and vice rector of Prague’s Charles University, told Czech public radio. “But better late than never, we have to stop it somehow.”
Konvalinka is a member of a group of scientists who have urged the government to immediately apply strict restrictions to reduce the number of new daily infections to 1,000 confirmed cases.
It was 14,457 on Thursday, about 2,750 more than a week earlier.
Czech Minister of Health Jan Blatny said the new cases might likely surge to about 20,000 a day in next week before the new measures make an effect.
Amid a surge of the variant first identified in the UK, of the 7,176 coronavirus patients in Czech hospitals on Thursday, a record 1,531 needed intensive care.
Another potentially dangerous variant first detected in South Africa has also been confirmed in the country this week.
To help the struggling health system and prevent a collapse, the government has been discussing with Germany and Poland an option to send Czech COVID-19 patients to their hospitals for treatment.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases has risen over the past two weeks from 68.83 new cases per 100,000 people on Feb. 11 to 99.94 on Thursday, the worst per capita rate in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The nation of 10.7 million has had more than 1.2 million confirmed cases, with more than 20,000 deaths.
In an attempt to boost the vaccination program, the Czech Republic has approached EU nations and others asking them for vaccines for which they do not have immediate use.
Babis said France has agreed to send 100,000 doses by the middle of next month.
About 5,000 Moderna doses have been donated by Israel, a close ally.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was