Coronavirus update, Sept. 8, 2021: Czech health minister says the next wave of Covid has begun

Vojtěch: Czech Republic is at opening wedge of another Covid wave

The Czech Republic is in the start of another epidemic wave that is again coming from the West where the coronavirus incidence went up already in the last few weeks, Czech Health Minister Adam Vojtěch told journalists after meeting Slovak Health Minister Vladimír Lengvarský. "I expected that the situation may worsen after the summer holidays. It is not just that children returned to school, but generally return of the society into a normal regime, higher mobility of people," Vojtěch said. Although the number of Covid patients in hospitals has grown recently, the number of those in serious condition has not risen markedly for the time being, Vojtěch said. More than three-fourths of the newly infected persons have not been vaccinated against coronavirus, he said. 

He said he would keep monitoring the situation. At the end of September, he would assess according to which of the possible scenarios the epidemic was developing in the Czech Republic, he said. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš told Czech Television the possible anti-epidemic measures would be introduced locally, not nationwide.  

The Czech Republic has 435,000 seniors unprotected against Covid

The Czech Republic has 435,000 senior citizens who have not been protected against coronavirus by vaccination or recovery from the disease, the Institute of Health Information and Statistics (ÚZIS) data shows. More than 81 percent of Czechs aged over 60 have been vaccinated. In the Vysočina region, over 84 percent of them received the vaccine doses, in Prague and Central Bohemia 83 percent.

He said he considers the areas where there are more municipalities with fewer than half of the locals vaccinated to be the most risky. As for all people aged over 16, 65 percent of the Czech population received at least one vaccine dose.  

UNICEF: 20,000 Czech children face poverty due to Covid

Some 20,000 children face poverty in the Czech Republic as a result of the impact of the coronavirus crisis, local UNICEF branch director Pavla Gomba said at a family policy forum in Prague, adding that complete figures will be released in late September. She said the Czech Republic's share of children living in relative poverty is approximately the same as in Denmark or Iceland, and that the Czech Republic ranks among the countries with the lowest poverty rate. Nevertheless, the epidemic has caused the situation to deteriorate. Children living with a single parent suffer from poverty four times more often than those living with both parents. In the Czech Republic, a person is faced with income poverty if their income is below 60 percent of median net income.  

Some 8,000 people to take part in study on Covid antibodies

A study on Covid antibodies will be carried out with a sample of some 8,000 Czechs including healthcare professionals, chronically ill patients, and people who took part already in the first phase of the study, the Health Ministry said.

The public cannot enroll in the study as the hospitals in Prague and Olomouc will select potential respondents and address them directly. The testing will take place in September and October, the ministry said, adding that the results should be available at the end of this year.

Side effects of vaccination may be compensated

The Czech Supreme Court (NS) has opened the road to the compensation for the side-effects of compulsory vaccination between 2014 and 2020, when there was no express legal regulation of the responsibility shouldered by the state, the server Česká justice stated. Before 2014 and after 2020, there was the claim to the compensation and it exists again directly under a law now, the server said. "The court considers it unacceptable, unfair and discriminatory that the damaged persons, who suffered before Dec, 31, 2013 and after April, 2020, received a compensation for their impaired health, while the damage caused between the two dates was not compensated only because the lawmakers failed to regulate their claims for the meantime," the court ruled.

Most new Covid cases since May 25

The coronavirus epidemic continues to accelerate, with 588 new cases reported on Tuesday, the most since May 25. A week ago, there were 286 new cases. Hospitalizations rose to 89 from a revised 88, and serious cases rose to 14 from 12. No deaths were reported for the fifth day in a row, and the September toll is at two. The incidence number of new cases per 100,000 people over seven days rose from 18 to 21. A week ago, the national incidence was 13. The reproduction number continues to grow, today it rose to 1.48 from the previous 1.36. The situation remains worst in the Karlovy Vary region, where the incidence number has risen to 39 from 33. the R number there is 1.41. In Prague, the incidence number is 36, up from 30 a day earlier, and the R number is 1.41.

Latest Covid-19 data from the Czech Ministry of Health (Sept. 8, 2021)

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