Confirmed coronavirus cases in the Czech Republic now 1,120, with 73 in past 12 hours

Prague/Brno, March 22 (CTK) – The number of novel coronavirus rose to 1,120 in the Czech Republic as there were 73 new cases today, the Health Ministry has said on its website.

Six were cured from the COVID-19 disease and there have been no fatalities.

The first three confirmed cases of the infection appeared in the Czech Republic on March 1.

The Health Ministry updated the figures of the ill as of 17:45. In all, 15,584 tests were carried out by Saturday midnight.

A total of 74 persons with COVID-19 are now hospitalised in the Czech Republic, Health Minister Adam Vojtech (for ANO) said.

Of them, 19 are at intensive care units and 11 with lung ventilation, Vojtech said.

One patient, now in the General Teaching Hospital in Prague, is on a special Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) device, he added.

The biggest daily increase in the epidemic occurred on Thursday, when 205 new cases were recorded. On Friday, the figure rose by 124 and on Saturday by 158.

There is the state of emergency with a serious limitation of free movement and trips as well as other restrictive measures that are to prevent the outbreak from spreading.

Most of the infected, 150, are from Prague, followed by Central Bohemia with 122 cases. There are 81 ill in the Olomouc and Moravia-Silesia region each. The least cases, 11, have been recorded in the Liberec Region.

One third of the patients were infected abroad, while 67 percent were infected with the coronavirus in the Czech Republic. Almost one-half of the infected have returned from Italy, one-fourth from Austria.

Men account for 55 percent of the cases. Most people, over one-fifth, are aged 35-44. Children under 14 make up less than 7 percent. There are about 12 percent among the elderly over 65, the most jeopardised group.

Two foreign students, who stayed at the Mendel University in Brno, tested positive on the coronavirus after they returned home, the university said.

They were there within the programme Erasmus and they immediately informed the university about the test results.

The Health Ministry has limited the prescription of Plaquenil by most general practictioners as of 18:00 today. The drug can be efficient for the patients suffering from COVID-19.

Now only specialist doctors can prescribe it.

“Since Plaquenil may be efficient for the treatment of COVID-19, one has to prevent its shortage for the treatment of the patients with both registered indications and those with COVID-19,” Vojtech said.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis will have a televised speech on cohesion during the epidemic on Monday at 20:00, government spokesman Vladimir Vorechovsky said today.