Czech Republic to upgrade “smart quarantine” system

The Czech Republic is creating a “Health Risk Board” to oversee the country’s “smart quarantine” system, which intends to contact trace COVID-19 infections, officials said after a government meeting on Monday.

Health Minister Adam Vojtech, who has dismissed claims that his ministry had botched the implementation of the “smart quarantine” system, described the new board as a “supervisory body where we will all be at the same table.”

Read alsoCzech Republic reintroduces nationwide COVID-19 restrictions

On Sunday, Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said that the so-called “smart quarantine” system was not working properly and called on the army to be more involved.

The new board will be headed by Prime Minister Andrej Babis, and the Czech Army and the Ministry of Health will both be heavily involved, officials said at the press conference.

In addition, the Ministry of Health is introducing a new four-tiered system to rate the extent of infections in specific regions. From the lowest to the highest, the color codes for the tiers are white, green, yellow and red.

Read alsoOne killed, 35 injured in train collision in Czech Republic

This so-called traffic light system will inform citizens of anti-epidemic measures they should expect to follow in their daily routines and will provide regional health officials with recommendations on how to manage their local epidemiological situation.

Source: Xinhua