Czech gov’t to avoid second lockdown despite surge in COVID-19 cases

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis appealed to citizens on Monday to respect coronavirus-related restrictions and mask mandates, adding that his government would avoid locking the economy down again.

“We do not want to close down the economy and threaten employment. We want to manage with measures that affect our lives as little as possible,” Babis said on Monday evening during a televised speech.

The prime minister admitted that relaxing measures over the summer led to the spike in cases, but urged citizens to adhere to the measures.

“We defeated the coronavirus once, we will defeat it a second time. I believe that we will be able to do it again,” the prime minister said.

Babis was making the appeal as the country has seen a surge in infections in recent weeks. As of Monday evening,

the country has recorded 50,071 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 521 deaths.

Czech president appoints new health minister

Czech epidemiologist Roman Prymula was appointed on Monday as the country’s new minister of health, according to the office of President Milos Zeman.

Prymula, government healthcare research commissioner and a former deputy health minister, is to replace Health Minister Adam Vojtech, who resigned Monday morning to “create space for a solution” to the country’s spiraling COVID-19 caseload.

Vojtech had faced pressure from the opposition to resign over his management of the epidemiological situation in the country.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who nominated Prymula, expects crisis management to be the core of his program as health minister, including ensuring the proper capacity of hospitals. Prymula will take up his new post on Tuesday.

The government also wants to improve communication over virus-related restrictions, which was a major source of criticism for his predecessor.

Last Wednesday alone saw 2,137 new confirmed cases in the Czech Republic, the highest daily count and the first time the single-day figure had exceeded 2,000, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

• Czech Republic tightens COVID-19 restrictive measures as cases surge

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Source: Xinhua