Ministry not to propose easing as Covid numbers rise

The Ministry of Health will not propose any easing of Covid-19 restrictions to the government at a meeting on Thursday. Neither will it suggest that ski resorts be opened to the public, the minister of health, Jan Blatný, said on Wednesday. By contrast, he said he wanted to allow people to make hospital visits.

Mr. Blatný also said the reason there had been such a spike in coronavirus numbers in the Czech Republic was that many people had met with others over the Christmas period.

The director of the Institute for Health Information and Statistics, Ladislav Dusek, said up to 19,000 new cases a day could be expected. A new daily record of 17,278 fresh cases was recorded on Tuesday.