Czech Republic coronavirus updates, August 17: 121 new cases brings total to over 20,000

There were 121 new COVID-19 cases in the Czech Republic yesterday, though officials performed far fewer tests, according to the latest figures posted by the Czech Health Ministry this morning.

In total, there have now been 20,012 reported COVID-19 cases in the Czech Republic since March. About 70% of those cases (13,799) have been confirmed recovered, and there have been 397 COVID-19-related deaths, leaving a record-high 5,816 known active cases in the country.

“We are still rising and the numbers are rising sharply, especially in developing countries. The vision that the virus will disappear by the end of the year is simply absolute nonsense,” Prymula said.

The Moravia-Silesia Region has the highest number of infected people in the country, with 5,100 total cases. That makes up one-quarter of all infections recorded right now in Czech Republic. Prague has the second-highest number of coronavirus cases, with 4,367 cases, more than one-fifth of the total number. The Central Bohemia Region fares third with 2,277 infections.

The Uherské Hradiště district in south Moravia is the region with the fastest-growing number of new COVID-19 cases. In the past seven days, they recorded 34 positive cases per 100,000 people. Prague and the Frýdek-Místek district in north Moravia follow with more than 32 infected per 100,000 in each in the past week. Most of the infected have just a mild course of the disease or no symptoms at all.

On the contrary, the lowest COVID-19 incidence is in the Hradec Králové and South Bohemia regions with 436 and 465 confirmed cases, respectively.

Epidemiologist and public health officers will discuss the development of the COVID-19 disease in the Czech Republic with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš at a meeting of the Government Council for Health Risks on Monday. They will assess the sanitary measures over the COVID-19 epidemic for regional schools, the organisation of sport clubs’ activities and the protection of senior home clients. The council is also likely to debate the shortening of the coronavirus quarantine by four days to ten days, which Babiš supports.

Today, the Health Ministry is also to update its map of the epidemiological situation in Czech districts, called the “traffic light” map as it colors districts in white (zero risk), green, yellow and red depending on the rising risk level. On the map released at the beginning of last week, only two districts were green: Prague and Frýdek-Místek. All the others were white. No yellow or red district has appeared on the map so far.