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The revenues of online pharmacies operating in the Czech Republic grew by 50 percent in the first half of 2020, reaching a total of CZK 1.46 billion, according to data provided to the Czech News Agency by analytics firm IQVIA. The record amount of growth also resulted in online medicine stores to gain a larger, 13 percent piece of the overall medical sales pie in the country. The reason for their sharp rise in sales is thought to be the realities of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to IQVIA, an even more noticeable trend can be seen in Slovakia, where online pharmacies experienced a growth in revenue amounting to 68 percent. However, at 6 percent their share in the overall medicine sales market remains considerably smaller than in Czechia.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš appealed to call center operators on Saturday, asking them to offer up some of their staff to help in state helplines that are tracing people  who came into contact with coronavirus carriers. Several companies have pledged to help in response and 300 call new centre operators should now be available to the hygienist teams involved in tracing those possibly infected with the virus, the Czech News Agency reports.

According to the government IT commissioner, Vladimir Dzurilla, the pledge was made both by companies already involved in the tracing as well as new firms. New operators will need three days of training before they can start working on the task, he said. Currently, there are around 1,000 call center operators helping trace the COVID-19 infections.

The Mayors and Independents party has won 11 seats in the 2020 elections into the Czech Senate, the most of all parties. The Civic Democrats came in second, securing six senators, followed by the Christian Democrats who came in third with three winners in the senate elections. TOP 09 and Senator 21 both won two seats in the upper house. The ruling ANO party, as well as the Pirate Party, the Party of Free Citizens, the Hradec Democratic Club and the Mayors for the Liberec Region all secured one senator.

The elections can be seen as a victory for the Mayors and Independents, who were defending three mandates, but came out of the elections with seven extra Senate seats. This means that the party could now have the strongest club within the Czech upper house of Parliament. However, some analysts warn that this may not end up happening if the TOP 09 party, which won two new Senate positions, chooses to form its own club. Members of political movements that have fewer than five senators can also shake things up, depending on which Senate club they choose to join.

The Civic Democrats, who currently have the largest presence in the Senate, won two new senate mandates. Party leader Petr Fiala highlighted the fact that the Civic Democrats won new seats and said that he expects negotiations to take place about who will hold the position of Senate speaker. Currently, the position is held by Civic Democrat Miloš Vystrčil, who said that he will run for re-election to this position.

The Christian Democrats secured three Senate seats. Although they were defending five mandates going into the election, they remain the third largest grouping in the upper house.

Meanwhile, the Social Democrats, who went into the elections defending 10 mandates, did not manage to secure a single seat and have thus lost the ability form their own club within the Senate. The ANO party, which was defending two Senate positions, managed to secure just one seat. ANO leader Andrej Babiš said he was not following the Senate elections closely and that his party tends to fare badly when running for the Senate.

The Pirate Party won one new seat, which means it now has enough senators to form its own club if those senators elected with Pirate support choose to join.

The Green Party and the Freeholder Party of the Czech Republic, both had one candidate running for re-election, but secured no seats.

Just 15.8 percent of eligible voters chose to vote in the second round of the Senate elections, after an attendance of 36 percent in the first round. The country is currently in the midst of a second wave of the  COVID-19 epidemic.

The second round of this year's Senate elections closed at 2pm on Saturday. Voters in 26 districts had the chance to vote on who they wanted to be their representative in the upper house of Parliament. A total of 26 senator positions were up for grabs, after one senate candidate had already managed to secure victory in the first round which took place last week.

Most of the candidates who got into the second round were from the ruling ANO party, the Civic Democrats and the Mayors and Independents. The Civic Democrats are hoping to keep on to their position as the strongest party in the upper house from which the Senate speaker is normally elected. However, this position could be lost if the Mayors and Independents gain enough seats.

Attendance was low in the first round, with only 36 percent of the 2.8 million eligible voters turning up. It seems that the number of voters in the second round is even lower, with voting commissions reporting an attendace of between 10 to 15 percent by Saturday mid-day.

The ballots are currently being counted and the results will be released by the Czech Statistics Agency.