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China presents a threat to security and stability in Europe, not only through the massive spread of disinformation, but also as the largest producer of medicines, Michal Koudelka, chief of the BIS counter-intelligence service, said at a conference in the Chamber of Deputies on Monday assessing relations with China over the past decade.

According to Mr Koudelka, security risks coming from China are more insidious than those from Russia. That’s why it is necessary to counter them effectively and not to underestimate intelligence warnings.

One of the main reasons for the current non-availability of certain medicines is the earlier shift of production to China, Mr Koudelka said. Because of the rise of Covid-19 in China, consumption of medicines has increased, while production has decreased.

Veterinarians have confirmed an outbreak of bird flu at a small poultry farm in Benice, southeast of Prague, a spokesman for the State Veterinary Administration said on Monday. It is already the 16th outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain in the country since the start of the year.

At the end of the year, the largest outbreak of bird flu in Czechia to date was confirmed at a chicken farm in Brod nad Tichou in the Tachov region. Veterinarians had to kill almost 750,000 laying hen.

As a result of the epidemic, the State Veterinary Administration issued a ban on outdoor poultry farming, which has been in place in the country since December 14.

Czech Olympic Committee chairman Jiří Kejval said he wanted to actively participate in negotiations on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Speaking to journalists on Monday, he stressed that the COC was against their participation in the games.

Mr Kejval previously initiated the creation of an expert group to try to find legal grounds on the basis of which athletes from countries involved in the war in Ukraine would not be allowed to participate in Paris.

The decision on whether the athletes from Russia and Belarus will take part at the Paris Games is up to the International Olympic Committee's executive board, which has no Czech representatives.

President-elect Petr Pavel is due to meet with Czech Labour and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurečka and the head of the Constitutional Court Pavel Rychetský this week.

Mr Pavel is also scheduled to visit the region of Ústí nad Labem on Thursday and undergo a medical examination at the Central Military Hospital. The results should be known before his inauguration in March.

Mr Rychetský’s term at the head of the Constitutional Court will end in August and the mandate of six of his colleagues will also expire this year. Judges of the Constitutional Court are appointed by the president, with the consent of the Senate, for a ten-year term.