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The number of registered coronavirus cases in the Czech Republic reached 7404 on Monday morning, up by 52 on Sunday, the smallest daily increase since March 14. 4,628 persons are fighting the disease, of those 360 are hospitalized. Over 2,500 people have recovered, 221 people have died.

While the situation has been improving around the country the Cheb area on the country’s western border reports a sharp increase in the number of cases. The town Mariánské Lázně reports 51 cases, an increase of 42 in the past week.

The Czech Republic is open to discussions about the transfer of the statue of Marshal Ivan Konev, which until recently stood in Prague 6, to Russia, Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček told the daily Hospodářské Noviny. The statue of the marshal had raised controversy in the Czech Republic due to the marshal’s participation in the brutal suppression of the Hungarian uprising in 1956 and was removed by the local authorities in April after it was repeatedly vandalized. The decision sparked outrage in Russia, which accused Prague of violating the 1993 treaty signed between the two countries.

The Czech foreign minister dismissed the accusation saying that the 1993 treaty only commits both sides to the dignified treatment of each other’s monuments and their protection from damage.

The statue of the controversial marshal who liberated Prague in 1945, but also had an active role in crushing the Hungarian Uprising and building the Berlin Wall, has been at the centre of a diplomatic row between the two countries for some time.

Care in hospitals could return to normal by the end of June, the director of the country’s largest health insurance company, VZP, Miloslav Ludvík said on Czech Television on Sunday. Hospitals in the country were asked to postpone their planned operations by the Ministry of Health to focus on the coronavirus pandemic, with large sections of staff allocated to treat patients affected by COVID-19.

The VZP director went on to say that the insurance company has calculated its losses associated with the coronavirus pandemic to lie at around CZK 31 billion. The government’s decision to raise the level of insurance payments, along with the company’s own reserves will help mitigate the losses.

The head of Prague’s Motol hospital, Zdeněk Kabátek, said that the spread rate of COVID-19 is the same as with other coronaviruses registered over the past 7 years and is considerably lower than, for example, when it comes to measles. He went on to say that he “heavily criticised” the World Health Organisation for what he said was a lacking methodological role which would educate people about the virus and stop people from being “scared”.

More than 12,000 Czechs have thus far been tested for the coronavirus as part of a large scale Ministry of Health study, launched three days ago, which seeks to get an accurate estimate of the amount of the population that may have already had COVID-19 and has therefore developed antibodies.

The largest level of interest has been registered in Prague, where the required quota of volunteers has been fulfilled for all age groups, Czech Television reported on Sunday. Meanwhile, in Brno, quota have been filled up for the over 60s age group.

Testing also continues in Olomouc, Litoměřice, Litovel and Uničov.

In total, the study is expected to take two-weeks and test a mix of 27,000 pre-selected individuals and volunteers.