19 Czechs likely infected with COVID-19 while abroad so far in July, according to Czech Health Ministry

Prague, July 15 (CTK) – Nineteen Czechs have likely been infected with COVID-19 while abroad during the first 13 days of July, according to the statistical data released on the Health Ministry’s website today.

Out of these cases, three possibly caught the infection in Slovakia and the USA each, two in Britain, Sweden and Croatia each and one in Ecuador, Peru, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Serbia and Russia.

A total of 1,284 new infections were recorded in the Czech Republic during the same period.

“The COVID-19 incubation period varies from two to 14 days, five to six days on average. However, we have also met with the cases of the first symptoms emerging at the end of the incubation period only. This is why the time and place of the infection cannot be with full certainty identified, mainly in the situation where we do not know the source,” the Health Ministry said, commenting on the statistical data.

Ministry spokeswoman Gabriela Stepanyova told CTK on Monday that the ministry would probably release the number of the “imported coronavirus cases” every week.

“A high incidence in some locality does not automatically mean that you will get infected there. There is just a higher risk of getting in contact with an infected person,” the ministry said.

Health Minister Adam Vojtěch (for ANO) said in the media last week that those were just a few individual cases.

Health Information and Statistics Institute (UZIS) director Ladislav Dušek said the figures were negligible. However, some infection clusters connected with the imported cases might appear in the Czech Republic in the future, he added.

The Czech Republic is assessing European countries on the basis of the coronavirus infection risk and releases their updated map once a week. Out of the EU countries, only Sweden is listed as a high-risk country.

As of today, Czechs must undergo a COVID-19 test or spend two weeks in quarantine after their return from Serbia and Montenegro. The number of new coronavirus cases started rising in Croatia and Bulgaria, popular summer holiday destinations for many Czechs, in the past days, too, but the situation in these countries is calming down, the Health Ministry said.

Source: Czech Health Ministry