Czech weekend news in brief: top stories for March 14, 2021

Czech PM: EU should distribute vaccines based on population size

Vaccines should be distributed in the European Union strictly according to the population of its member states until 70 percent of the adult population is vaccinated against COVID-19, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has told CTK. Babiš said it in connection with a letter signed by the Austrian PM Sebastian Kurz, Bulgarian PM Bojko Borisov, Croat PM Andrej Plenković, Latvian PM Krisjanis Karins, Slovenian PM Janez Jansa and himself, addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel and released on Saturday.

Babiš pointed out he does not want to change the number of vaccines that the member states ordered, but to ensure that all states have the chance to vaccinate at the same speed at least during the first six months of the year. He noted that the leaders of EU countries repeatedly confirmed the principle at their joint meetings. Austrian PM Kurz said on Friday that vaccine doses have not been distributed according to the population size, even though the EU decided on this distribution system.

AstraZeneca to cut vaccine deliveries, impact on Czech Republic unclear

AstraZeneca will cut deliveries of its COVID-19 vaccine to Europe by 73 percent and the impact on the Czech Republic is not known yet, the Smart Quarantine project has written on Twitter. "We are intensively dealing with it. We will try to change the decision of [AstraZeneca]. We are working on an increase of the deliveries of other vaccines and speeding them up," the Smart Quarantine team tweeted.

Some European countries stopped administering the AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this week because of suspected serious side effects, for example blood clots. AstraZeneca announced on Friday that it would limit its deliveries to the EU. It will deliver 30 million vaccine doses by the end of March, and 100 million doses in the first six months of the year. Originally, it was supposed to deliver 220 million doses to the EU by the end of June.

Czech Republic to continue developing relations with Palestine

The Czech Republic wants to continue developing relations with the Palestinian Authority and its office in Jerusalem is not a new diplomatic mission, the Czech Foreign Ministry said on Saturday in reaction to the denunciation of the office by the Palestinian Authority. The office of the Czech embassy in Tel Aviv opened in Jerusalem on March 1. On March 11, there was an official ceremony in the office attended by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, and Public Security Minister Amir Ohana.

The Palestinian Authority and the League of Arab States have condemned the opening of the Czech diplomatic office in Jerusalem and said it violated international law, Reuters reported. The Czech Foreign Ministry said earlier that this was not a new diplomatic office, but would provide services for the Czech Republic's citizens and was an effort to deepen and enhance the Czech Republic's strategic partnership with Israel.

Czech hospitals are losing 3.2 billion crowns per month due to limited care

Czech hospitals are losing roughly 3.2 billion crowns per month because of limitations on the treatment they are able to provide this year and will be compensated via a regulation, according to a compensation bill that the Health Ministry has drafted. The compensation regulation will modify the amount of money that health insurance companies pay hospitals for the care they provide.

Additionally, the regulation should allow medical facilities to pay their staff bonuses for work during another COVID-19 pandemic wave. A compensation bill proposes that health insurance companies compensate hospitals costs related to the epidemic. Once the bill is passed, the ministry may issue the compensation regulation.

1-2% of employees have tested positive for COVID-19 under blanket testing

The share of positive COVID-19 test results in companies is about 1-2 percent, which is the same as in the blanket antigen testing of the Czech population, Health Minister Jan Blatný has told CTK. Hundreds of positive cases have been revealed this way, he said. Blatný added at a press conference that conducting tests does not mean that companies can stop observing anti-epidemic measures such as wearing face masks.

Mandatory COVID-19 testing for companies with over 250 employees was launched on March 3, and from March 5, for firms with more than 50 employees. Smaller companies must complete testing by March 15. The requirement applies to about three million people in total.