Czech Health Minister: COVID-19 risk to be assessed daily on a 0-100 scale, with corresponding measures

Prague, Nov 6 (CTK) - A new COVID-19 risk score for the Czech Republic prepared by the Health Ministry will be released daily from next week, Health Minister Jan Blatný told reporters today.

The Health Ministry will release a daily figure on a 0-100 scale for both the entire Czech Republic and particular regions. Risk level will also be indicated by color, ranging from green, through yellow to red, Blatný added.

Additionally, a chart of corresponding anti-COVID-19 measures will be completed by Monday, feedback on it can be sent, and it will then take effect as of later next week, Blatný said.

The chart will comprise five levels of measures to be taken, based on the new COVID-19 risk scores.

"The aim is the maximum transparency for each citizen of this country," said Blatný.

All data that will be used for the calculation of the daily figure will be published so that anyone can verify it, he stressed.

The COVID-19 risk scores will take into consideration the 14-day number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the spread of infection among the elderly elderly population, a simplified reproduction number (indicating the average number of people who get infected from one positive person), and the share of positive tests among all tests conducted, Blatný said.

The assessment will be based on an average score over several days to prevent measures from being changed too often, he added.

"I will know that in the case of a 20-percent risk, then Number 2 measures will be activated. If it rises to 40 percent, then Number 3 level of measures must be activated," the minister explained.

At present, epidemiologists are proposing respective measures to be valid in each of the five levels and are giving feedback on the model. Its final version is to be released on Monday.

Blatný said on Wednesday that this model should be used until the year's end.

Chief Public Health Officer Jarmila Rážová said the relevant measures would be declared or lifted as the government crisis measures during the state of emergency.

"As soon as we get to lower levels, decisions can be made by the regional public health stations, which our valid legislation allows, by the way," she said.

Despite previous statements from Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, a new plan for easing the current anti-COVID-19 measures was not unveiled today. Instead, Blatný said not to expect any changes for the next 2-3 weeks.

"Let's not expect something to change fundamentally in the next two or three weeks," Blatný  stated.

"Let's expect that after about three weeks we will be ready to change in a structured way if we all act responsibly."