Czech Republic coronavirus updates, August 18: 192 new cases, masks required indoors from September

There were 192 new COVID-19 cases reported in the Czech Republic yesterday, according to the latest updates from the Czech Health Ministry posted this morning.

Since the beginning of the outbreak in March, there have now been a total of 20,202 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Czech Republic. There have been 14,622 confirmed recoveries and 399 COVID-19-related deaths in that span.

At present, there are 5,181 known active cases, a slight decrease over record highs posted last week.

The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the Czech Republic has dropped to 96. Due to this, some expert have claimed that the virus has been weakening.

Over the past week, the number of new daily cases has ranged between 140 and 329.

This week, however, a new locality has overtaken Prague and Frýdek-Místek as the Czech Republic’s most-affected locality per capita: Plzeň, which has seen about 43 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days.

Klatovy and Frýdek-Místek have both reported about 32 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past week, while Prague and Uherské Hradiště have both reported about 30 new cases per 100,000 residents over that time.

Masks would need to be worn in places “where it makes sense,” Vojtěch stated, which would mean shops and shopping centers but not restaurants and offices. An official list of locations that require a face mask should be released soon.

According to the Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch, the requirement to wear veils indoors and public transport could last through the end of the flu season, i.e. March 2021.

“This is the premise for how long we should wear them, if nothing fundamental changes,” Vojtech said.