Czech Republic coronavirus updates, July 17: 137 new cases, local outbreak north of Prague generating more cases

There were 137 new COVID-19 cases reported in the Czech Republic on Thursday, the highest rise of new cases in the last week, according to the latest data released by the Czech Health Ministry this morning.

Most of those infected with COVID-19 only have mild symptoms and only 141 COVID-19 patients are in hospital now, including 18 whose health condition is serious. Officials performed 3,764 new tests on Thursday.

More than 8,600 people have recovered from the novel coronavirus since the pandemic began. There have been 355 deaths in the country and there are 4,617 known active cases in the country.

There have now been 13,612 COVID-19 cases in the Czech Republic since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis in mid-March.

There are several regions with clusters of coronavirus cases, including the Karviná region, the neighboring Frydek-Mistek region, the Kutna Hora region in central Bohemia, and Jihlava in the Vysocina Region. The Karviná region remains the most severe in the country with 51 positive tests per 100,000 people.

The Mělník region, just north of Prague, is also emerging as a new localized outbreak of the virus. According to published reports, brigade workers at a local company came down with COVID-19 and several people tested positive for the disease. Nearly 30 are quarantined following the outbreak. In addition, ten people at a hostel in the area also became infected with COVID-19. The region has a rate of 21 positive infections per 100,000 people.

A hospital in Uherské Hradiště closed its intensive care unit on Wednesday after ten staff members and two patients were diagnosed with COVID-19. The postoperative intensive care unit remains temporarily closed on Friday amid the outbreak.

The situation throughout most of the Czech Republic remains relatively stable.

Many coronavirus measures have been lifted across the country. The Health Ministry tweeted that masks will not be mandatory on August 1, despite false reports.

Officials have previously said, however, that masks may need to be reintroduced in the future.