Spread of coronavirus ‘contained’ in Czech Republic, govt to cautiously open up economy – minister

The spread of the novel coronavirus has been contained in the Czech Republic and the government will continue to cautiously open up the economy, Health Minister Adam Vojtech said on Thursday. The country has seen the number of new cases drop below 100 for the past eight consecutive days, and the number of active cases has also been on the decline.

The ministry said the reproduction rate of the virus has dropped to 0.7, which means every newly infected person passes the infection to less than one other person. It also predicted 7,900-9,700 total infections at the end of May, from 7,581 reported as of Thursday morning.

Positive developments have prompted the government to start reopening stores and services as well as non-urgent medical care. “So far we do not see a negative trend resulting from previous relaxations,” Vojtech told a televised news conference.

The country has also seen a decline in the number of hospitalized patients, to 348 on Wednesday from a peak of 446 on April 9. So far 227 people have died, equal to 21 per million people, Reuters said.