COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic

The COVID-19 pandemic saw its first three confirmed cases in the Czech Republic on 1 March 2020.

COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic
COVID-19 Czech Republic - Cases per capita.svg
Confirmed cases per 100.000 residents
COVID-19 Czech Republic - Cases per capita (last 14 days).svg
New cases in 14 days per 100k residents
DiseaseCOVID-19
LocationCzech Republic
First outbreakWuhan, Hubei, China
Index casePrague
Arrival date1 March 2020
(4 years, 9 months, 2 weeks and 6 days ago)
Confirmed cases8,275
Active cases2,927
Recovered5,058
Deaths
290
Government website
onemocneni-aktualne.mzcr.cz/covid-19

Response

On 12 March, the government declared a state of emergency, for the first time in the country's modern history for the area of the entire country. On 16 March, the country closed its borders and issued a nationwide curfew.

While originally planned until 24 March, the measures were later extended until 1 April[1] and then again until the end of State of Emergency which was extended by the Chamber of Deputies until 30 April 2020[2] and then again until 17 May 2020.

A general closure of services and retail sale was in place from 14 March until 11 May, however all shops could conduct distance sales with delivery from 24 March onwards. Government didn't order closure of manufacturing plants, but many did so voluntarily during second half of March with gradual reopening from 14 April.[3][4]

Czech Republic was first[5] European country to make wearing of facemasks mandatory from 19 March onwards.[6]

Testing

COVID-19 testing was made widely available with drive through locations from 14 March,[7] and from 27 March anyone with a fever, dry cough or shortness of breath being eligible for a free test.[8]

From 13 April onwards, COVID-19 testing passed its demand.[9]

Deaths

Contact tracing in the country included also voluntary disclosure of mobile phone position and debit card payments data for previous days and quaranting of identified contacts.[10]

By 1 May 2020, altogether 257 COVID-19 related deaths were identified in the Czech Republic compared to 2,719 in similarly populous Sweden, which did not impose any lockdown.

Reopening

Czech Republic started gradual easing of measures from 7 April 2020 onwards with most restrictions being lifted by 11 May 2020.

COVID-19 Pandemic In The Czech Republic Media

References

  1. "Czech Republic goes into quarantine to slow down coronavirus spread". Radio Prague International. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  2. "PČR, PS 2017 , 43. schůze, část 37 (7. 4. 2020)". Psp.cz. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  3. "Automobilka Hyundai obnovila výrobu v Nošovicích, odstávka trvala tři týdny". Aktuálně.cz - Víte, co se právě děje (in čeština). 2020-04-14. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  4. "Government Resolution No. 458 published as No. 203/2020 Coll". aplikace.mvcr.cz.
  5. "Could Czech's Measure to Fight Coronavirus Save Thousands of Lives?". Praguemorning.cz. 4 April 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  6. "Data". mzcr.cz. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 May 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  7. "Koronavirus: Laboratoře, které mohou testovat a kde si můžete test zaplatit". Blesk.
  8. "Česko má 2 279 nakažených. Nově stačí k testu horečka, suchý kašel či dušnost". Mladá fronta DNES (in čeština). 27 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  9. Hana Válková. "Nezájem lidí, méně laboratoří. Proč o víkendech a svátcích padá počet testů". iDNES.cz. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  10. "Data". www.mzcr.cz. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-05-19. Retrieved 2020-04-14.