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A record number of Covid-19 cases for a non-working day – 2,556 – were recorded on Saturday in the Czech Republic. As of Sunday morning, 1,200 people were hospitalized with the virus, 245 of them in serious condition.

On Monday, a one-month State of Emergency comes into effect due to the second wave of Covid-19 infections. Secondary schools in high-risk areas will close for at least two weeks, while cultural and sporting events and other gatherings will be limited in size.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s ANO party has won the regional assembly elections that ended on Saturday afternoon, capturing over 22 percent of the vote overall and placing first in 10 of 13 contests, according to unofficial results. A third of the seats in the Senate, 27 in total, were also being contested; most will be decided by a second (run-off) round of voting next weekend.

Local administrations hold far less power than the central cabinet in Prague, but the regional ballot this weekend – about a year before general elections – is an important measure of voter support. The results appear to signal confidence in the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, despite a recent uptick, and its plan to weather the economic fallout.

In the regional contests, the opposition Pirate Party placed second overall, with about 12 percent of the vote. The centre-left Social Democrats (ČSSD) – ANO’s junior government coalition partner – garnered less than 5 percent of the vote, as did the unreformed Communist Party (KSČM), which have tolerated Babiš’s government in exchange for policy concessions.

The centre-right Civic Democrats (ODS) won nearly 7 percent of the vote, the right-wing Party for Direct Democracy (SPD) and centrist Party of Mayors and Independents (STAN) about 6 percent each and the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) about 5 percent. In a coalition with the ODS, the centre-right TOP 09 party won 4 percent of the vote. No other party or coalition garnered more than 2.5 percent, with most getting less than 1 percent.

As of Saturday evening, ANO appeared to have won the Moravian-Silesian, South Moravian, Olomouc, Pardubice, Vysočina, Ústí nad Labem, Karlovy Vary and Plzeň regions for certain. A coalition called the Mayors for the Liberec Region (SLK) won that region while in the Hradec Králové region, a coalition of ODS, STAN and Východočeši emerged the victors.

The official regional assembly results will be published on Tuesday (October 6) in the Collection of Laws. In total, the posts of 675 regional assembly members, elected to four-year terms, were contested by 9,711 candidates, representing or aligned with a total of 85 parties or coalitions. Unlike the other 13 regions, Prague did not hold elections.

Singer and actor Karel Fiala, best known for playing the lead in the 1964 film 'Lemonade Joe, or the Horse Opera', a parody of the American Western genre, has died at the age of 95, iRozhlas.cz reports.

Karel Fiala, an operatic tenor, began performing in operas at the National Theatre in 1949 while still a student at the Prague Conservatory, and continued doing so while studying at the Academy of Performing Arts.

In 1954, he joined the roster of principal artists at the Musical Theatre in Karlín where he performed for several decades. His first film role came in 1956, when he played Dalibor in an adaptation of Bedřich Smetana’s opera of the same name.

Up to 40 percent of the nearly 8 million people eligible to vote in Czech elections for regional assemblies (excluding Prague) and in the first round of Senate elections did so, according to preliminary estimates. Despite the Covid-19 uptick, the turnout was higher than in the 2016 elections (35 percent).

Regular voting took place in two rounds, on Friday (2pm-10 pm) and on Saturday (8am-2pm). People with Covid-19 or in quarantine could vote earlier in the week at special drive-in points. Those in hospital, old-age homes or in similar circumstances could use mobile voting stations.

The unofficial results of most regional contests, and of Senate elections in which a candidate won a sizeable majority, should be clear already on Saturday evening. As of 4pm, the ANO party of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš looked set to place first in 10 of the 13 regions holding elections for regional assemblies.

The regional assembly results will become official on Tuesday (October 6), following their publication in the Collection of Laws. As for the Senate races, some contests will continue next weekend in a second, run-off vote.

The posts of 675 regional assembly members, who are elected to four-year terms, were contested by 9,711 candidates, representing 85 parties and so-called movements in total.

Vying for 27 open seats in the 81-member upper house of Parliament were 235 candidates. Senators are elected to six-year terms, with one-third of seats contested every two years.

According to early estimates, voter turnout was highest in the regions of Hradec Králové, Zlín and Vysočina, at above 40 percent, and lowest in Prague, where only senatorial elections were held, at less than 33 percent. Participation was lower than the national average in North Moravia and West and North-western Bohemia.