Czech Republic coronavirus updates: Jan. 5, 2021: Czech COVID numbers among world's worst

The PES anti-epidemic score has risen from 85 to 89 points due to the rapid spread of the infection among seniors in the Czech Republic. This keeps the country at the highest, fifth risk level, according to data released by the Health Ministry Tuesday morning.

This is the seventh day in a row the Czech Republic has remained on the fifth alert level; the number of new confirmed cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past 14 days has worsened as well.

Last week the Czech Republic saw the world's worst epidemic numbers. The seven-day average of those infected per million inhabitants in the country of 10 million was 932 vs. 521 in neighboring Slovakia.

In a televized interview, former Minister of Health Roman Prymula said he expected the number of new infection cases to further rise then peak at Jan. 15. He added that roughly 15,000 people have been vaccinated in the Czech Republic so far.

The Health Ministry has not yet released official data on how many people have been vaccinated. It will do so at a press conference on Tuesday.

The ministry is also set to announce changes in the way it calculates the PES score at its Tuesday press conference. It will factor in the number of COVID patients in Czech hospitals.

The PES index is on the fifth level in all 14 Czech regions. The Pardubice region holds the highest index score at 94 points. The Plzen and South Bohemia regions score lowest.

Vaccination of healthcare workers and seniors began in the country on Dec. 27. So far only a handful of cases have reported undesirable side effects and no life-threatening reactions; nearly 830,000 antigen coronavirus tests have been performed since November.

Cases of the new UK variant of the coronavirus were confirmed in Slovakia Monday.