Nine Czech residents have caught COVID-19 while abroad this month, according to new stats

Just one Czech resident has returned with COVID-19 from the countries highlighted as potential risk areas over the weekend

Jason Pirodsky

Written by Jason Pirodsky Published on 13.07.2020 16:16:01 (updated on 13.07.2020) Reading time: 1 minute

Despite Czech Health Minister Adam Vojtěch’s warning that Croatia, Greece, and Bulgaria were potential COVID-19 risk areas for Czech tourists, just one person returning to the Czech Republic from those countries this month has been confirmed to have come back with COVID-19.

Statistics on Czech residents returning to the country with COVID-19 were released this afternoon by Institute of Health Information and Statistics (ÚZIS) director Ladislav Dušek, speaking to Czech Radio (Český rozhlas).

In total, nine Czech residents returning from abroad this July have come back with COVID-19.

Three of those nine have returned from Slovakia, two from Sweden, and one each in Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, and the United Kingdom.

Despite Vojtěch’s warning, no cases were found in Czech residents returning from Greece or Bulgaria.

Still, these beach areas, along with Croatia, are among the most popular summer destinations for residents of the Czech Republic and other European countries, and taking precautionary measures while abroad is certainly still advised.

According to Dušek, the number of infections in returning tourists has been negligible, but could be a source of future outbreaks if not diagnosed. Initial outbreaks of COVID-19 in the Czech Republic were blamed on residents returning from Italy in March, one of the first European locales to be heavily affected.

Officially, the Czech Republic now characterizes all EU countries with the exception of Sweden as low-risk destinations that require no restrictions while traveling.

Other European countries are also classified as low-risk, though Serbia and Montenegro have been re-classified as high risk areas following an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in those locales.

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