Czech government prepared to distribute respirators to senior citizens within three days if needed, says PM

Prague, Sept 7 (CTK) – The Czech government will deliver respirators to senior citizens within three days if the epidemiological situation in the country markedly worsens, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) has told CTK.

Deputy Prime Minister Jan Hamáček (Social Democrats, CSSD), who heads the Interior Ministry, said on Twitter that the state-run Czech Post is ready to distribute respirators to vulnerable groups within a few days if the government decides on it based on expert recommendation.

According to the Czech Statistical Office, there are 2.1 million people aged over 65 in the Czech Republic, which has a total of 10.7 million inhabitants. Three million people receive old-age, disability, widow and widower, and other pensions.

Babiš said the Czech state has purchased about 13 million FFP2 respirators, and 75 million face masks.

Hamáček said earlier his ministry has secured 70 million face masks and eight million FFP2 respirators, which are in the police depository in Opočínek near Pardubice.

He told CTK that the Health Ministry has to define the vulnerable group of inhabitants, if needed.

“If we have such numbers [of respirators], I think it is a good time to distribute them, for example, among the three million pensioners,” Babiš said when he launched the ANO movement’s campaign before the regional and Senate elections in Olomouc last week.

Civic Democrats (opposition ODS) leader Petr Fiala said Babiš had promised to send face masks to people by mail in the spring, but that nobody has received anything yet.

Fiala said on Twitter that the state should be able to react to new local infection clusters instead of useless nationwide measures and gestures made before elections.

Last week, the daily rise in new confirmed COVID-19 cases reached a record high four days in a row. On Friday, 797 cases were recorded, which is the highest number since the start of the epidemic in March.

Most infected persons have only mild symptoms and many of them no symptoms at all.

Currently, 204 people with COVID-19 are being treated in Czech hospitals, including 52 who require intensive care.