Ian Willoughby

Clown Doctors deliver joy to children and seniors at Czech health care facilities. With Covid they are having to meet fresh challenges – and doing valuable work online.

At the start of March, Czech Edita Kudláčová will assume one of the most important jobs in her field: Head of Radio and Audio at the European Broadcasting Union in Geneva.

Kateřina Tučková is a leading young Czech novelist. Her novel Gerta, focused on the post-war mistreatment of ethnic Germans, has just been published in English.

In recent days simple pink sleds have been grabbing attention in parks in Prague and elsewhere in the country. They can be accessed via a mobile app created by Rekola.

With many offices empty due to the coronavirus situation, some Czech companies have become subletting space – and offering lower rents and other incentives.

A freshly launched website celebrates the legacy of Sir Nicholas Winton, who in 1939 saved 669 mainly Jewish children by helping them get to his native UK.

US-based Czech academic Jakub Hlávka is an expert on health policy, working on projects focused on the Covid pandemic as well as studying the treatment of Alzheimer’s.

In a bid to encourage Czechs to wear respirators, which are safer than other types of facemasks, the government is temporarily suspending VAT on such products.

The Czech government is introducing fresh measures to combat Covid-19. The focus is on reducing social contact – and in particular deterring people from going skiing.

Jiří Mádl has been one of the country’s biggest young movie stars for a decade and a half. He is also an accomplished writer-director and has helmed two films to date.