Czech morning news in brief: Top stories for Nov. 27, 2020

POLL - Roughly one third of Czechs (32 percent) of 1,000 people polled have seen their health deteriorating amid the autumn coronavirus pandemic, a survey carried out online for Zentiva pharmaceutical company shows. The respondents complained mostly about fatigue, headache, back pain, depression, anxiety and weight gain. However, in most cases, people's health did not worsen seriously enough to require medical assistance. The data also showed that Czechs often postponed doctor's visits and some 25 percent phoned healthcare professionals. When asked, people between 18 and 26 years of age (roughly 46.5 percent) felt their health condition worsening. In contrast, people between 54 and 65 years of age reported they felt relatively stable which is probably due to the fact that their routine amid the pandemic has not changed that much, the survey concluded. Those who did not report any changes to their health say it is thanks to quality sleep, regular sport activities, vitamins and immunity-boosting food supplements.

COVID - Up to 400 external operators have joined public health officers in tracing new COVID-19 cases, but in early November when the Czech Republic hit daily records of new cases, there were two times more then, Health Ministry press spokesman Krystof Berka told CTK yesterday. "These are police and Czech military members, customs officers, and also employees of CEZ (private-state power utility), as well as the Innogy utility company. The Health Ministry has other companies on standby ready to help too," Berka said. Tracking down contacts is essential for further fighting the pandemic, experts from the Centre for Modeling of Biological and Social Processes (BISOP) say, adding that the state should encourage people to report all their contacts.

POLITICS - The Czech opposition Pirates will vote online Friday to Tuesday on whether to make their head Ivan Bartoš the party's national leader in the 2021 general election, Pirates' spokesperson has told CTK, adding that Bartoš has been nominated for leader by eight of the 14 regional branches. During his nomination speech, Bartoš said the decision will be crucial since the party's national leader will also be their candidate for PM. He added that the Pirates' chance to gain the post is more realistic than in the 2017 election, in which the party, then a newcomer to parliament, finished third. From the latest party polls, the Pirates repeatedly came in second after PM Andrej Babiš's ANO party, with its popularity steadily rising. No other candidate has been nominated for leader except for Bartoš within the party. In the debate, some proposed the nomination of MP Mikuláš Ferjenčík, who declined the nomination, saying he does not feel up to the post of prime minister.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS - Chamber of Deputies foreign committee deputy chairman Jan Lipavský (Pirates) told journalists yesterday that Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček, (CSSD) should revoke the diplomatic passport of President Miloš Zeman's aide Martin Nejedlý over his planned trip to Russia. Should the Presidential Office hire a private plane for the purpose, this would be waste of taxpayer's money, Lipavský said. The weekly Respekt and Aktualne.cz broke the news of Nejedlý's planned trip to Moscow. They wrote that the visit is being organized by a deputy prime minister of Russia, which is scandalous, Lipavský said. "In the situation where the representatives of the Czech Republic and Russia have not met on the prime minister level for over a decade, this makes a mockery of the office of the Czech Republic's prime minister," he added. Nejedlý told Respekt and Aktualne.cz that he did not intend to discuss the tender for the construction of a reactor in the nuclear power plant Dukovany, south Moravia. The Russian firm Rosatom is among the bidders for the tender.

ART - The Prague Museum of Decorative Arts has given a 19th century glass goblet from its collections to Dita Kraus from Tel Aviv, a relative of the original Jewish owners, museum spokeswoman Radka Potměšilová told CTK yesterday. The Nazis confiscated the goblet from Richard Kraus who died in Auschwitz in 1944. The original owner was identified by the Documentation Centre for Property Transfers of the Cultural Assets of WWII Victims. The center succeeded in identifying 101 original owners of items in Czech state collections. The Museum presented the results of the center's work in the exhibition Returning Identity last year. Richard Kraus (1884-1944) was a co-owner of the Bloch & Kraus factory making children’s clothes and later, the owner of the RIKRA factory that employed 60 dressmakers.