A negligible number of Czechs caught COVID-19 abroad over the past week, including 24 in Croatia

Prague, Aug 5 (CTK) – Only 52 out of the 1,754 Czechs who tested positive for COVID-19 over the past week got infected abroad, which is a negligible number, the Czech Health Ministry press section’s Renata Povolná told CTK, adding that 24 likely caught the virus in Croatia.

Czech chief sanitary official Jarmila Rážová said on Monday that the infection is imported to the Czech Republic from abroad only in a very small number of cases.

Povolná said that five people got infected in Austria, four in Serbia, three in Slovakia and three in Spain in the past seven days.

The Health Ministry noted that the COVID-19 incubation period is from two to 14 days, on average five or six days, and so it is impossible to be sure where and when a person got infected, especially if the source of the infection is unknown.

Croatia has historically been one of the most popular countries in which Czechs spend their summer holidays. Last year, 740,000 Czechs spent more than one day there, according to the Czech Statistical Office. The latest data from the Croatian Tourism Association shows that there are about 46,000 Czechs in Croatia now, and that more than 107,000 Czechs visited the country in July.

Until now, 5,318 people have been infected with coronavirus and 154 of them died in Croatia, which has 4.2 million inhabitants.

Czech epidemiologist Rastislav Maďar tweeted on Monday that Czechs who went to the Zrce Beach music festival on the Croat island of Pag got infected with COVID-19 at a large dance party, and spread the infection after their return to their homeland.

During the first three weeks of July, 65 Czechs tested positive after their return from abroad.

Number of COVID-19 infections imported to the Czech Republic in July 2020:

Source: Health Ministry