Coronavirus hits Czech Republic, with two cases in Prague and one in Ústí nad Labem

Prague, March 1 (CTK) – The Czech Republic has the first three confirmed cases of the infection caused by the novel coronavirus, Health Minister Adam Vojtěch (for ANO) told journalists today.

Two people tested positively in the Prague Na Bulovce hospital and one in the Masaryk Hospital in Ústí nad Labem, north Bohemia.

In Prague and Ústí, there are Czech men, while the other case in the capital relates to a U.S. student. All of them recently arrived from Italy to the Czech Republic.

The coronavirus tests were positive in three out of the 13 examined cases. The results are yet to be re-examined by a laboratory in Berlin, Vojtěch said.

In Prague, there is a Czech, born in 1952, who was at a conference at the university in Udine, Italy, and an American woman, born in 1999, who studies in Milan.

In the Czech Republic, she is along with a friend from Ecuador, who showed some symptoms, but she tested negative.

The man from Usti, born in 1976, was along with his family in Italy. Now the family is in a quarantine.

All the patients who have tested positive are isolated at infection wards, Vojtěch said.

“The man who was born in 1952 and returned from the conference in Udine, was in home quarantine after his return,” Vojtěch said.

Prague chief sanitary station head Zdenka Jagrova said the man had been in contact with the medical officers since February 26 and only had contact with his wife.

“The problems were increasing, due to which a sample was taken from him,” she added.

The American woman was examined in the Motol hospital in Prague and then driven to Na Bulovce. The test for her friend from Ecuador will be repeated on Monday, Jagrova said.

The man from Usti had been on a skiing holiday in Italy, Vojtěch said.

“He travelled by car with his wife and four children. All of them are in home quarantine. They have no symptoms, but since they travelled with him, the risk of an infection is serious. They will be tested soon,” he added.

The director of the State Health Institute (SZU), Pavel Brezovsky, said results of the examinations were most likely accurate.

However, the findings are yet to be confirmed by a German laboratory, Brezovsky said.

“We will be confirming the sample of the contacts they have had. This means the colleagues of the American woman and the wife and children of the case from Usti,” he added.