At the government meeting this morning (October 21) in Prague, Czech Republic, after hours of discussion and assessment of the current epidemic situation, the Czech government announced to impose a “semi-blockade” nationwide starting at 6am tomorrow October 22 (local time).
After a day of mandatory national masking, new government measures were introduced to close retail and service stores, including department stores, except for grocery stores, pharmacies, and gas stations. Orders to restrict travel and contact with others except family members have been placed. Regulations on limiting exposure at state offices, contact time will not exceed 10 hours a week. The new solutions are introduced similar to the time in mid-March when the country implemented a nationwide blockade to reduce the risk of epidemic spread, but did not close the border.
The Minister of Health said that 80% of the hospital beds are now fully closed, the number of infections has increased dramatically and the elderly have the highest rate of infection. He emphasized that if there are no hard measures such as closure, the current rate of infection, the Czech Republic will not have enough hospital beds to treat Covid-19 patients.
At the press conference, Health Minister Roman Prymula stressed that while the newly implemented measures are quite powerful and will have a heavy impact on the population, this is necessary to help flatten the disease curve. The morning report on October 21 said that this country of more than 10.7 million people had recorded a record number of cases of 12,000 positive cases for SARS-CoV-2 in the past 24 hours, which is the highest rate of infection. in Europe.
This morning, the media reported that some senior officials of the Czech government were positive for Covid-19 including Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Jan Hamacek, head of the Emergency Committee. Country and Agriculture Minister Miroslav Toman. Facing the current urgent situation, the Government is making plans to support businesses and businesses damaged by the Covid-19 epidemic.