News: Monday, March 8th, 2021

Number of Covid patients in ICUs up ahead of “critical week”

There were 1,728 Covid patients in intensive care in Czech hospitals on Sunday, a rise of 155 on the same day the previous week. The minister of health, Jan Blatný, has said the coming week will be the most critical in terms of the country’s ICUs’ ability to cope with people with the virus.

The total number of people in hospital with the coronavirus was nearly 8,000 on Sunday, which was almost 500 more than the week before. At the end of January the number hospitalised was considerably fewer at roughly 5,500.

The number of fresh Covid cases registered on Sunday was 3,923, a week-on-week fall of 660.

Poll: Two-thirds of Czechs want vaccine, almost fifth strongly against

Two-thirds of Czechs wish to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, suggests a poll conducted by the Median agency for Czech Radio and published on Monday. Some 19 percent of respondents in the survey said they were strongly against being inoculated against the virus.

Two-fifths of Czechs would prefer to receive the Pfizer/Biontech vaccine if given a choice, the study indicates. Next most favoured is the AstraZeneca vaccine, with 27 percent.

Only 1 percent would like to get China’s Sinopharm vaccine, which Czech President Miloš Zeman has requested supplies of, reportedly at the request of the Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

Car industry employee sends government imposed order for mandatory testing to court

The government imposed measure on the mandatory testing of employees in companies with over 50 employees will be reviewed by the Supreme Administrative Court, the ctk news agency reported.

An employee from the car-making industry has challenged the new regulation on the grounds that it violates his personal freedoms.

The order was issued by the government on the basis of the recently approved law on pandemics.

Over 10 thousand companies have been ordered to test their employees for Covid at least once a week to help curb the spread of the epidemic.

The order was also issued to state employees in the administrative sector.

Those who refuse to get tested will be barred entry to the workplace and risk being fired.

Dukovany receives green light for expansion

Elektrárna Dukovany II, a subsidiary of the power utility ČEZ, has obtained a permit from the State Office for Nuclear Safety to build a new nuclear power unit at the Dukovany power plant.

According to the company, this is one of the most important preparatory steps before the start of construction and the selection of a supplier. The preparation and processing of documentation for the licensing procedure took five years and included over 200 professional studies, ČEZ said.

Expectations are that at least one new reactor will be built at Dukovany by 2035 to replace the four existing units that are scheduled to be shut down between 2035 and 2037.  The expansion of the Dukovany and Temelin nuclear power plants is to help the Czech Republic meet emissions reduction targets and goals for energy security.

Average monthly wage reaches 38, 525 Czech crowns

In the last quarter of 2020, the average gross monthly wage increased by 6.5 percent in nominal terms year-on-year to CZK 38,525, according to data released by the Czech Statistics Office. Consumer prices rose by 2.6 percent last year, meaning that in real terms wages increased by only 3.8 percent. The median wage was 32,870 crowns. For men, the median reached 35,129 crowns, while for women it was 30,281 crowns.

Czech banks and one insurance company robbed of 1.4 billion

An international gang has deprived two Czech banks and an insurance company of 1.4 billion crowns in a sophisticated fraud scheme involving fictitious steel trading, Jaroslav Ibehej, spokesman for the National Centre for Combatting Organised Crime told reporters. He said Czech and British police had  investigated the case together as the heads of the gang operated from Great Britain. Three Czechs and one foreign national have been charged with fraud. The stolen money was reportedly channelled abroad.

Weather forecast

Tuesday should be partly cloudy to overcast with day temperatures between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius.