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As of May 1st Czechs will no longer be able to buy flu medication containing pseudoefedrine over the counter. In line with a new amendment to the law flu medicine such as Coldrex or Stopgrip will only be sold to people in small amounts on the basis of a health insurance card and ID. The move is an attempt to curb abuse of the substance in the production of the illegal street drug pervitin. However it involves putting personal data into a central evidence system and some pharmacies will not be selling flu medicine at all for fear of violating the privacy law. The matter is being investigated by the Office for Protection of Private Data.

Health officials are still investigating 21 cases of suspected swine flu in the Czech Republic after excluding three suspected cases, the Ministry of Health announced on Thursday. The country’s chief health inspector Michael Vít told Czech Television on Thursday that another four Czech tourists returning from Mexico had been isolated after suffering high temperatures. Mr Vít said the country is well prepared to deal with swine flu but added that he was pressing for increased stocks of the antivirus and that regional plans for dealing with a pandemic should be scrutinised.

The Czech EU presidency has attacked plans by Germany and Austria not to open up their labour markets to citizens from new member states from Central and Eastern Europe as unjustified. The two countries have said they want to continue existing barriers which require would be workers from eight countries including the Czech Republic to apply for work permits until 2011. In a statement, the presidency pointed out that all available data show that workers from these countries pose no threat to the stability of the two countries labour markets, do not push down local wages or endanger social cohesion. The plans by the two countries, the last to retain work barriers after Belgium and Denmark announced they would lift theirs, should be studied by the European Commission.

Czech industrial production fell by 17.5 in March compared with the same month a year earlier according to preliminary figures released by the Czech Statistical Office. Adjusted to take into account the two extra working days in March, the production fall is estimated at 20.9 percent. Production fell by 23.4 percent in February. The value of new orders of the books of companies fell by 16.7 percent in March compared with a year earlier.