Coronavirus update, Aug. 13, 2021: Czech students hesitant to get vaccinated against Covid

Unvaccinated university students want specific motivation

Some of students who were surveyed said the Czech Rectors' Conference call for the maximum number of university students to be vaccinated against Covid does not carry much weight in their decision-making on vaccination, according to server iDnes.cz. According to them, universities should rather offer specific benefits to those who get vaccinated. Last week, the Czech Rectors' Conference called on university students to be vaccinated against Covid before the start of the new academic year.

Some students claim they are among the least vulnerable to Covid, and that those who want to be vaccinated have already done so. More motivation, such as exemption from regular Covid testing, would be needed to convince the rest.

Czech Army reserves finish at O2 universum, center to close in September

After a month, the deployment of active reservists in the vaccination center at O2 universum in Prague ended. Some 220 members of the active reserve assisted in the vaccination in four rotations, the Army said on its website. The army leadership originally considered that other reservists could be called in to deploy, but according to General Staff spokeswoman Magdalena Dvořáková, this is not necessary.

Professional soldiers will continue to help in the vaccination center. Vaccination at the O2 universe should end on Sept. 10. Reservists with permanent residence in Prague or the Central Bohemian Region started with help on July 14. They took turns after a week, 55 reservists served in one rotation. Their task was to help people with, for example, orientation in the area, the disabled, or mothers with carriages transported by elevator, and also supervised the organization and operation of the center.

Police charge Plzeň judge over possible spread of Covid

One judge at the Plzeň Regional Court is being charged by the police due to the spread of Covid-19, news server Novinky.cz reported. The judge returned to work in February this year after the quarantine was over, even though she had a cold. According to the accusation, she did not take sufficient steps to verify her infection status before returning.

Two days after returning to work and coming into contact with colleagues, she tested positive. The judge says that her quarantine was ended by her doctor. She did not break any rules, and did not infect anyone, she claims. She plans to dispute the charges. Regional Court Chiarman Alexandr Krysl says the prosecution is not objective, but motivated by office politics.

Czech Republic now fifth-best in EU for new coronavirus infections

According to the number of coronavirus infections in the last 14 days, the worst situation in the European Union remains in Cyprus (931 cases per 100,000 population, 1259 a week ago). The second most affected country is still Spain (604 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, 727 a week ago). The third most affected country is again France (462 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, a week ago it was 416). In the Czech Republic, the number of cases is stagnating, with 22 cases it is now again in 23rd place (a week ago there were approximately 24 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the Czech Republic). This is according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

R number over 1.0 for sixth day

There were 191 new Covid cases reported for Thursday, up from 164 the previous week. The incidence number of cases per 100,000 over the past seven days stayed steady at 12. The reproduction number R dropped very slightly to 1.10 from 1.11. It has been over the break-even mark of 1.0 for six days. The number of hospitalizations dropped from a revised 60 to 58. There were 17 serious cases, down from 18 a day earlier. No deaths were reported for the third day in a row, and the August death toll remains at six. For Prague, the incidence number was 27, up one form a day earlier. The R number dropped slightly but not enough the change the figure from 1.20 after rounding.

Latest Covid-19 data from the Czech Ministry of Health (Aug. 13, 2021)

Source: onemocneni-aktualne.mzcr.cz/covid-19