Coronavirus update, Oct. 12, 2021: Number of new Czech Covid cases highest since early May

Vaccination with two doses after 14 days reduces the risk of hospitalization and death from Covid-19 in people over 50 years old by 90 percent, according to an extensive study carried out in France. The risk of hospitalization dropped by more than 90 percent 14 days after the second dose, the study said, according to news agency AFP. Similarly, the risk of death related to Covid-19 decreased. Protection against the development of a severe course of the disease remained roughly as high even five months after vaccination.

The study also looked at the protection that vaccination provides against the Delta mutation. It found that the risk of hospitalization after vaccination was reduced by 92 percent among people aged 50 to 74 years and by 84 percent in the age group 75 and older.  

The State Institute of Public Health (SZÚ) in its regular report stated that the Delta variant, formerly called the Indian variant, still dominates in the Czech Republic. The Delta variant and its subvariants still account for approximately 95 percent of positive samples. The share of the original delta variant fell below 50 percent at the expense of its subvariant. The previously dominant Alpha variant represents only about 2 percent of detected cases.

The State Institute of Public Health (SZÚ) said the number of younger people infected with Covid is increasing. From January to May, mainly people aged 40 to 49 were ill. From June onwards, people between the ages of 20 and 29 began to dominate among the infected, and from August the number of patients between the ages of 10 and 19 has also increased.

Representatives of two university teams received the European Citizen's Prize on Monday in Prague. Researchers from the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics, and Cybernetics of the Czech Technical University (ČVUT) earned a medal for the advanced 3D-printed CIIRC RP95-3D respirator, which was developed at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic last year. The other winner was the volunteer center MUNI pomáhá (MUNI Helps), which arose at Masaryk University in Brno in response to the outbreak of a pandemic. The ČVUT group won the award for 2020, and MUNI pomáhá for 2021. Due to the pandemic, no ceremony took place last year.  

The Czech government will discuss the purchase of freezers for storing Covid-19 vaccines. The State Material Reserves Administration (SSHR) will acquire 50 boxes that will hold 6 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech's Comirnaty vaccine. The estimated price is about CZK 12.5 million. At the beginning of October, health insurance companies selected a distributor of this vaccine, who will also deliver it to general practitioners' offices. In the tender, however, they calculated that they would store a maximum of 3 million doses at a time.

There were 1,345 new Covid cases reported for Monday, the most since May 11. It was also a big increase over last Monday, which had 797 cases. Covid hospitalizations rose to 373 from 328 a day earlier and 294 a week earlier. Currently, there are 68 people in serious condition. The last time so many people were hospitalized for Covid was June 3. Three deaths were reported for Monday, and previous figures were updated. The toll for October is now 35.

The incidence number of new cases per 100,000 over seven days rose to 61 from 56 a day earlier. Last week it was 43. The reproduction number R rose slightly to 1.17 from 1.14 a day earlier. Last week it was at 1.36. For Prague, the incidence number is 79 and the R number is 1.17. The pandemic is worst in the Moravia-Silesia region, with an incidence number of 106.

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