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Czech pharmacies are still short of antibiotics and other medicines, the ctk news agency reported. The reason for the shortage is problems in supply chains, but also a significantly higher incidence of bacterial and viral infections in the wake of the Covid pandemic.  During the winter months manufacturers supplied the Czech market with over 3.2 million packs of antibiotics and anti-viral drugs, which is a third more than in the previous season. According to pharmacists, the lack of some antibiotics led to the increase in the overall consumption of medicines, since patients received less suitable antibiotics for their illness and often had to be treated with antibiotics repeatedly.

People around Czechia were able to see the northern lights in the sky on Monday night. The phenomenon is a rare sight in this country and can usually only be observed in the northern parts of Czechia. This time it was visible with a naked eye in the Šumava mountains in the south of the country and the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute says it is receiving dozens of photographs taken on people’s mobile phones.

Speakers of parliaments around Europe have gathered in Prague on Monday for a two-day conference. The chair of the Czech Senate, Miloš Vystrčil, said that delegations from 52 countries had been invited to the event at the city’s Congress Centre.

On the opening day of the event the officials are discussing Russian aggression toward Ukraine and the EU’s response in the wider geopolitical context. On Tuesday global cooperation between democracies and European countries’ dependence on totalitarian regimes will be on the agenda.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala arrived in Kazakhstan on Sunday afternoon as part of 10-day tour that has taken him to several Asian states. He is due to meet President Kasym-Zomart Tokayev and Prime Minister Alikhan Smajlov on Monday. He will also launch a business forum.

Kazakhstan is Czechia’s most important trading partner in the Central Asian region and was the second largest oil supplier Czechia in 2021. The main topics of discussion during Mr. Fiala’s stay will be energy, transport, defence and defence-industrial cooperation.

The Czech leader will also visit the “Akmolinsk Camp for the Wives of Traitors to the Motherland” (ALZHIR), a Gulag camp that housed the wives, daughters and sisters of men accused of treason. The website of the Czech Embassy in Astana says two Czech women were among the prisoners.