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Just 3.4 percent of people working in the Czech Republic rank below the poverty threshold, the latest Eurostat data for 2018 show. Only Finland scored better in the statistic and it is the lowest income poverty rate in Czechia in the past 10 years. On average, every tenth EU citizen’s income lies below the poverty threshold. The result is thanks to the wage-to-price difference, sociologist Daniel Prokop told Czech Radio. In Luxemburg, for example, the median rate is twice as high as in the Czech Republic and those on low income jobs are therefore more likely to fall into poverty than in Czechia.

Romania placed last according to the statistic, with every sixth worker threatened by poverty.

The tender on an online system of motorway vignette sales, cancelled by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš after IT specialists organised a hackathon where they designed a similar system free of charge, included a sophisticated surveillance system, online news site Seznam Zprávy reported on Monday. Seznam claims that the public data gathering system was agreed to by the Ministry of Transport in cooperation with the Czech secret services and police.

Former Transport Ministrer Vladimír Kremlík, who was sacked because of the overpriced tender, told Seznam that the system was supposed to be capable of photographing license plates and “logically, more than that”. He also admitted that a part of the proposed system was kept under secrecy.

The head of the Czech counterintelligence service refused to comment on the story, but last week the organisation’s spokesman Ladislav Šticha said that intelligence services’ access to data on vehicles and their owners was expected from the beginning and is supported by legislation. However, only in so far as accessing the license plates and vignettes registers.

Senate Speaker Jaroslav Kubera, who died unexpectedly of heart failure at the age of 72 two weeks ago, is being remembered through an official state mourning this Monday. Hundreds of people including leading state representatives such as the prime minister have paid their last respects at the Senate speaker’s coffin, which is being displayed in the theatre of his hometown of Teplice. At noon, sirens across the country rang out in his memory. In Prague a special memorial service will be held in the Rudolfinum building on Monday afternoon.

Jaroslav Kubera was the mayor of the West Bohemian town of Teplice for over twenty years. In 2000 he became a senator and was elected speaker of the upper-house in 2018. Shortly after his death, President Miloš Zeman announced that Kubera will be awarded the Order of the White Lion in memoriam.

The Czech Republic will contribute CZK 10 million to help tackle the coronavirus epidemic currently afflicting China, Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček (Social Democrats) announced on Monday. The aid is to be distributed through international organizations in consultation with the World Health Organization.

A financial contribution was proposed by Mr Petříček during the weekend after Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said that the Czech Republic is unable to send medical equipment such as facemasks, because they are needed in case of an emergency.

The Czech ministries of foreign affairs and health are also in discussions regarding the possible lease of ambulances, which are needed in China to transport infected patients into quarantine zones. Furthermore, government departments are negotiating the possible involvement of Czech experts, such as epidemiologists.