Coronavirus update, Jan. 11, 2021: Czech Republic has world's second-highest number of new cases

The COVID risk index in the Czech Republic fell by three points to 84 out of 100 Monday as a result of the reproduction number decrease from 1.22 to 1.18, which still keeps the country on the highest fifth-degree within the PES anti-epidemic system, the Health Ministry's morning data show.

The number of new COVID-19 infections in Czech Republic dropped on Sunday by one third to 4,283 against the previous Sunday's 6,255, and the tests' positivity rate fell from 41 to 35.2 percent, according to the Health Ministry's morning data.

However, Saturday's number of new cases reached 8,405 – a two-thirds increase against the previous Saturday.

The Czech Republic currently has the world's second-highest number of new coronavirus cases per 1 million inhabitants per week with 1,035 new cases a day on average, and it has the fifth-highest COVID death toll per million people per week, according to ourworldindata.org

Ireland has the highest number of new coronavirus cases per 1 million inhabitants, and Liechtenstein has the highest death rate.

The first 20,000 doses of the vaccine against coronavirus from the Moderna firm will be delivered to the Czech Republic Monday going first to the Moravia-Silesia Region, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš told Czech Television.

The Czech Republic has received about 100,000 doses of vaccine from the Pfizer and BioNTech companies. This week, up to 82,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine will arrive in the country, Babiš said.

The Czech government will decide today on the delivery of more vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech. Apart from the eight million doses ordered, the Czech Republic could get a few more million.

Babiš also said the Czech Republic was waiting for the approval of the use of the Astra Zeneca vaccine, 3 million doses of which it has ordered. This vaccine is to be approved in the EU by the end of January. Britain has already approved it.

According to the Czech vaccination strategy, nearly half a million people should be vaccinated at the end of February and nearly 1 million at the end of March. As of April, the Czech Republic expects to get more than 1 million doses of the vaccine per month.

About 40,000 people have been vaccinated in the Czech Republic so far.

President Miloš Zeman has asked for Israeli help with the organization of the Czech vaccination campaign in a letter he sent to President Reuven Rivlin. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš sent a similar letter to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Zeman said.

The pace of coronavirus vaccinations is the highest in the world in Israel where 1.8 million people, or one fifth of the population, were vaccinated in three weeks.

Babiš said the country has a control center for hospital beds that reflect the capacities in equipment or beds at intensive care units.

Babiš admitted that some hospitals were on the brink of capacity, but pointed out that the field hospital in Prague-Letňany still does not need to be opened.

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