Czech folk singer's tragic Covid death makes world headlines

London/Paris/Berlin, Jan 20 (CTK) - World media outlets, including the BBC, are reporting on the case of Czech folk singer Hana Horká who died of Covid-19 at the age of 57 on Sunday after having rejected vaccination and catching the infection intentionally, her son Jan Rek said.

The British BBC, the French AFP news agency, as well as German, Italians, Spanish as well as Brazilian and Mexican media, reported on Horká's death.

Horká was unvaccinated and posted on social media that she was recovering after testing positive for Covid-19, but died two days later, BBC writes, referring to an interview with her son.

Rek says his mother became infected on purpose when he and his father had the virus. She did so in order not to be restricted from entering some venues as an unvaccinated person.

Only the fully vaccinated or those who recovered from Covid in the past six months can go to restaurants, bars, and similar establishments as well as to cinemas, theatres, and other culture events in the Czech Republic.

Horká announced on Facebook two days before she died that she was recovering: "Now there will be theatre, sauna, a concert," she wrote on Twitter.

On Sunday morning, the day she died, she said she was feeling better and dressed to go for a walk. But then her back started hurting, so she went to lie down in her bedroom, Rek recalled.

"In about ten minutes it was all over. She choked to death," BBC cites Rek as saying.

Although she was unvaccinated, Rek stressed that his mother did not believe in some of the more bizarre conspiracy theories about the Covid vaccines. "Her philosophy was that she was more OK with the idea of catching Covid than getting vaccinated. Not that we would get microchipped or anything like that," he told BBC.

There was no point in trying to discuss the issue with her as it would just get too emotional, he added. Instead, he hoped that by telling his story he could convince others to get vaccinated, BBC writes.

Some other media, such as AFP and the British tabloid Daily Mail, also pointed out that Rek has actually accused some Czech anti-vaxxers of his mother's death. They convinced her not to get vaccinated against Covid-19, he said. "It is sad that she trusted other people more than her own family," AFP cites Rek as saying.

Other foreign media outlets reporting on Horká's death, include Spanish El Pais, French Le Figaro, the German servers Stern, Der Tagesspiegel, the Austrian web Heute, the Italian station Sky TG24, the Hungarian web 24.hu as well as the Mexican news portal El Universal and Brazilian Globo, referring to Rek's interview with the Czech web iRozhlas.cz.

The number of Covid cases in the Czech Republic reached a new daily high on Wednesday, with 28,469 cases reported. Around 63 percent of the Czech Republic's total population has been fully vaccinated, compared with the EU average of 69 percent.