Coronavirus update, May 28, 2021: Czech Republic finally reaches goal of 100,000 vaccinations per day

The official Health Ministry's data for Wednesday report some 97,000 inoculated people so far, but that was a preliminary number. After Babiš tweeted, the ministry on its statistical site said 100,260 had been vaccinated on Thursday. Eight out of 10 administered doses are from the Pfizer/BioNTech company. So far, healthcare workers administered some 5.0 million vaccine doses and altogether roughly 1.4 million people have completed their vaccination in the Czech Republic, which has a population of 10.6 million. People 30 and over can currently register for vaccination.

Restaurants and other catering facilities may open their interiors in the Czech Republic on Monday, May 31, Health Minister Adam Vojěch told journalists. There can be as many guests as the number of seats. At one table, only four guests can be seated. Besides, the required distance and wearing of face masks when not eating will be required. Like now, negative coronavirus tests, certificates on vaccination or past COVID disease will be necessary, Vojěch said. He said the government had proceeded to the sudden relaxation of the lockdown in order to respect a ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court (NSS). Vojěch said the relaxation should be slower and he preferred the restaurant reopening only after June 14, as planned before.

The Chamber of Deputies asked the government to present an updated vaccination strategy, analyses the securing of vaccination capacities in the second half of the year and give information on the steps to the coronavirus revaccination of inhabitants. The MPs also wanted the campaign promoting vaccination to be modified to become more effective. Several MPs expressed the view that the vaccination strategy was not prepared well at first, but that the vaccination process has already been running well. "Unfortunately, the segment of general practitioners still is not working as it could be," MP Vít Kaňkovský (opposition KDU-ČSL) said. Vojtěch said he is ready to negotiate with the GPs.

MP Zbyněk Stanjura, head of the Civic Democrats (opposition ODS) lower house group, said this situation is a big mistake and the state should first of all focus on the vaccination of senior citizens. He said some 100,000 people aged over 70 have not received a date for their vaccination yet. Vojtěch said this number includes also people who are waiting for the date when the second vaccine dose will be applied to them. He said second doses will be applied more now and so the waiting for the first doses may become longer.

The April measure of the Health Ministry on compulsory respiratory protection was illegal, the Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) stated. It saw shortcomings in the statement of reasons for the contested measure, which was no longer in force. The court gave its decision on its website. The measure was valid from April 12 to May 3 and prohibited people over the age of two from moving and staying away from home without respiratory protective equipment, meaning without a respirator or mask. The reason was the epidemic situation. The NSS could no longer repeal the measure retroactively, only state its illegality. The measure currently in force is challenged in court by other proposals.

Not even the risk scenarios of Covid-19 epidemic development suppose that Czech hospitals might get overburdened again, thanks to the mass vaccination of seniors, who, being the most vulnerable group, previously made up almost three-fourths of Covid hospitalizations, Health Information and Statistics Institute (ÚZIS) head Ladislav Dušek said. He said 740 people as of Thursday with coronavirus were staying in hospitals, the lowest number in the past eight months, and 133 of them were in serious condition. Patients with Covid-19 have stopped causing a limit on other usual healthcare services in hospitals. In mid-June, hospitals are expected to face a very low burden, with only several cases of new Covid hospitalizations a day.

Cancer treatment in the Czech Republic has resumed its regular operation after being heavily affected by the coronavirus epidemic. Two-thirds of surveyed doctors say they already have the same number of examined patients and their numbers are growing further, a poll by the IQVIA analytic company showed. The data show that after the epidemic outbreak last March, 44 percent of Czech oncologists examined fewer patients on a weekly basis in 2020 as against the pre-pandemic times. More than a half of respondents admitted delayed surgeries and fewer requests for special oncological examination. One-third of doctors noticed postponed starts of chemotherapy. More than 80 percent of respondents say that delayed and postponed precautionary examinations resulted in a lower number of successful and timely cancer diagnoses.

The daily number of new Covid cases on Thursday was 505, the lowest on a workday in the Czech Republic since Sept. 1, 2020 when there were 498 cases, and roughly one-quarter smaller than a week ago, Health Ministry data released this morning showed. The daily number of Covid-related deaths is also considerably decreasing. In early May, there were around 40 fatalities a day, but in the past week just around 10. The death toll now stands at 30,088. The national reproduction number R, showing the speed of the epidemic spread, has stayed at 0.71. If under one, which has been the case since mid-April, the epidemic is slowing down.