Coronavirus update, July 12, 2021: Get vaccinated, win a prize – walk-in centers will have incentive raffle

Two vaccination centers will open in Prague today, where people can come for the vaccine without prior registration. At Prague’s main train station Hlavní nádraží, people can receive the single dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. At the shopping mall OC Chodov, people can receive the vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech. Both centers will operate every day, at the train station from noon to 7 pm, in the shopping center from 10 am to 8 pm on weekdays, until 7 pm on weekends. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said on Sunday that those vaccinated in these centers could take part in a prize draw. Once a week, they can get an iPhone 12 mobile phone, Converse sneakers, or vouchers for the Steam gaming platform. See our full story here.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš will propose the shortening of the interval between the first and second dose of the vaccine Pfizer/BioNTech to 21 days to the Government Council for Health Risks on Monday, he said in a video posted on social networks. The change will take effect among newly registered people on July 15. Currently, the vaccine can be administered after 34 days, while before, this was after 38–42 days. When it comes to the vaccine from Moderna, the interval between the first and second doses was also shortened, now being 25-35 days.

The more contagious Delta variant is spreading in the age category 17 to 21. Vojtěch wants more inspections of Covid certificates in clubs. He will ask the hygienists and the police for them. Vojtěch does not count on regional restrictions yet. "We had a system of relaxation, then the court came, he said that we have to dismantle now, so we dismantled, so we have to move in this new environment, which is different than it was a year ago, when we had a traffic light. So there are not many possibilities that we can do in terms of any restrictive measures," Vojtěch said.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš asked Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó to lend another 200,000 doses of Covid vaccines to the Czech Republic, Babiš told journalists after a meeting of Visegrad Four prime ministers on July 9. Previously, Hungary lent 140,000 doses to the Czech Republic. Szijjártó has twice passed the vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, in all 140,950 doses, to Babiš in Prague. The Czech Republic is to return them by the end of the year. In April, vaccines were promised to the Czech Republic by Slovenia, Austria and Hungary. The Government Office said along with routine deliveries of the vaccines based on agreements concluded with manufacturers through the EU, the Czech Republic has also gained at least 300,000 doses. Slovenia and Austria have lent them, while Israel, Serbia and Slovakia have donated them. See our full story here.

About 13.2 percent of Czech children aged 12–15 have shown interest in Covid vaccination over the 10 days since their registration started, according to the data released by the Health Ministry. In all, about 60,400 have been registered and the vaccine has been administered to about 11,500 (2.5 percent). Of them, 83 have complete vaccination by two doses. In total, the age group comprises over 450,000 children. The Health and Education ministries have said that fully inoculated children will not have to undergo the coronavirus test at the start of the school year. Along with the inoculated, the tests will not be mandatory for the children who underwent the infection in the past six months. At the end of June, the government approved the decision that those who will refuse the test will have to wear a face mask or respirator all the time while in school. See our full story here.

The Tečka app is intended to allow people to easily view their vaccination or test certificates. However, on Friday, due to the new regulations, the vaccination certificates turned from green to red 1.75 million people who were already 22 days or more after the first dose, but not two weeks after their second dose for the vaccines that require two doses. The rules for when vaccination would be considered effective changed due to the Delta variant. As of July 9, some 884,000 people had downloaded the Tečka application.

There were 147 confirmed cases of Covid on Sunday, some 41 more than a week ago. The number of newly infected in the week-on-week comparison has risen for five days in a row. The reproduction number showing the spread of the epidemic increased from 1.35 to 1.46, the highest since mid-October, according to Health Ministry date. There are a total of 25 people in the hospitals with Covid-19, two in serious condition. According to experts, the acceleration of the pandemic is due to the Delta variation, the loosening of anti-epidemic measures, and people's travel during the holidays. In the past seven days, there are about 13 infected people per 100,000 inhabitants in the Czech Republic, which is a slight increase compared to Sunday. The worst situation remains in Prague, where the incidence number is 35.