Coronavirus update, June 4, 2021: Foreigners with private insurance should soon be vaccinated

From the second week of June, foreigners who do not pay for public health insurance in the Czech Republic can also be vaccinated against Covid-19. They will get Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and will pay themselves. The price should not exceed CZK 850. According to the Health Ministry, the whole matter should be resolved soon. "The Ministry of Health is currently finalizing the methodology for vaccinating foreigners who are not insured in the public health insurance system of the Czech Republic or the European Union," Martin Novotný from the ministry's press department told news server iDnes. Registration for these foreigners should open in the second week of June. "In each region, at least one vaccination site shall be designated for this purpose. There will be more vaccination places for this group in Prague," Novotný said. It is not clear how many people are affected by this problem, as many foreigners have Czech or other EU insurance. The policy had been expected to be set at the end of May, but was delayed.

Cinema City and Cinestar have announced that they will welcome spectators on Thursday, June 10, after the cinemas close. 12 multiplexes and one megaplex Cinema City and all 13 Cinestar branches in the country should open. "We will open up even if the government conditions apply in their current form," Cinestar director Jan Bradáč said on Thursday. Multiplex representatives said government regulations would be observed. The multiplexes did not want to open without the possibility of selling snacks. So far, only some single-screen cinemas reopened May 24.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš will receive 40,950 doses of Covid-19 vaccine from Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó this afternoon at Prague's O2 universum. According to a Hungarian government resolution, the Czech Republic should receive 40,950 doses Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. According to the findings of news server iROZHLAS.cz, the vaccine is a loan and not a gift. The Czech Republic will repay it when it has enough vaccine. In April, Slovenia, Austria, and Hungary promised the Czech Republic vaccines about 80,000 doses after the Czech Republic did not agree to a compromise on the distribution of an additional 10 million doses in the EU.

Czech people were among the biggest critics of their cabinet's approach to the coronavirus epidemic out of all nations in Central and Eastern Europe in March, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Slovak NGO Globsec and involving respondents from 10 countries. Out of the surveyed Czechs, seven in 10 said their cabinet fails to tackle the Covid-19 epidemic, while 28 percent were of the opposite view. The only nation that was more critical of its cabinet were the inhabitants of Slovakia, where three in four people were of the view that the cabinet failed to tackle the Covid crisis. Unlike other nations, fewer Czechs identify with the view that Covid-19 does not exist. In the Czech Republic, only 6 percent of respondents agreed with the view that Covid-19 is a bluff and no Covid actually exists. In Romania, this view was espoused by up to 30 percent of people.

Pregnant women can be vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the opinion of the Czech Vaccinological Society. It is especially suitable for women with a higher risk of infection, such as healthcare workers or obese people, with diabetes and asthma and generally over 35 years of age. In case of coronavirus infection, pregnant women are at risk of a worse course and premature birth. Vaccine experts warn that pregnant women are not more at risk of infection than women of the same age, but they may have a worse course of the disease. They are also more at risk of premature birth. "Therefore, vaccination during pregnancy should not be postponed," the opinion said. Vaccination is considered appropriate after the 12th week of pregnancy. When a pregnancy is detected after the first dose, experts recommend postponing the second after the 12th week.

There were 430 confirmed cases of coronavirus on Thursday, 75 fewer than a week ago and the smallest Thursday increase since the end of August, according to Health Ministry data. No person in the Czech Republic died in connection with the Covid on Thursday, though that information still may be updated. This last happened on Sept. 2, 2020. Some 109,547 people were vaccinated on Thursday. According to Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, after the initial announcement of the applied doses on Wednesday, the daily record in vaccination increased to 112,231. There were 24 new cases of infection per 100,000 people in the last seven days, down by one from the previous day. The reproduction number, which indicates the average number of infected from one positive test, remains below 0.8. If it is lower than one, the spread of the disease slows down.