Coronavirus update, Sept. 24, 2021: Covid testing to take place in Czech schools again this autumn

Czech schools will repeat blanket Covid testing this autumn

Nearly a thousand children are now quarantined due to the detection of Covid-19 in their school classrooms. While hygienists so far this year have only closed two schools, the Ministry of Health said that it wants to analyze whether the situation in schools is worsening by conducting two more rounds of blanket testing.

Tests are planned for October and November. All school children were tested for Covid-19 2-3 times, depending on the type of test, in the first two weeks of September. The Department of Education has prepared an order for more than 1.5 million antigenic test kits.

Two-thirds of Czech companies recommend employee vaccination

Almost two-thirds of Czech companies recommend vaccinations to their employees, says a new survey by the Chamber of Commerce. About 32 percent of companies do not address vaccination with their employees and do not want to influence their free choice. Roughly one in ten companies are motivating staffers to get vaccinated with a bonus or other incentive.

Six percent of companies require their employees to prove their infectivity by having proof of vaccination or a negative test result. As an added bonus, many companies offered their employees paid time off on the day of vaccination. 

Czech Republic is the third-least affected nation in the EU

Portugal will repeal almost all remaining anti-epidemic measures from 1 October as the country with the highest vaccine rate in the world. In terms of cases of coronavirus infections in the last 14 days, the worst situation from EU countries remains in Slovenia (652 cases per 100,000 population). 

The second most affected country is now Lithuania, where 507 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 population have been reported in the last 14 days. Estonia remains the third most affected country (462 cases per 100,000 population. In the Czech Republic, the number of cases is growing, but with 53 cases it is still the third least affected EU country according to data from the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The rate of vaccination in the Czech Republic is in decline

As Portugal announced this week that it would repeal all remaining anti-epidemic measures from Oct. 1 as the country with the highest vaccine rate in the world, the rate of vaccination has been declining in the Czech Republic for several weeks. On Thursday, doctors gave less than 9,800 doses of the vaccine, about 11,800 a week ago. More than 5.9 million people in the country have completed vaccinations or about 55 percent of the population. 

Applicants can now be vaccinated from the age of 12. People who are eight months after the end of vaccination are entitled to a booster dose. So far, almost 1,900 of the roughly 10,000 people have taken advantage of this opportunity. This year, more than a million people will be able to be vaccinated again.

'R' number drops to 1.0 indicating a slow down in Covid spread

Laboratories revealed 488 new Covid cases in the Czech Republic on Thursday, 60 fewer than a week ago, and the reproduction number standing for the people infected by one positive person dropped to 1.00, the Health Ministry's morning data shows. An R number of under 1.00 suggests that the epidemic is slowing down. Like a week ago, 164 people required hospital care over the coronavirus infection. Out of them, 27 were in serious condition.

The incidence rate in the Czech Republic is currently 28 newly infected persons per 100,000 population for seven days. The incidence rate remains the highest in Prague, 48 cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days, followed by the Moravia-Silesia Region with 47 cases. The epidemic situation is the best in the Hradec Kralove Region and Liberec Region, with 11 cases.

Latest Covid-19 data from the Czech Ministry of Health (Sept. 24, 2021)

Source: onemocneni-aktualne.mzcr.cz/pes