News

An 82-year-old man has died of diphtheria in Czechia, the first fatality from this cause recorded in the country since 1969, the State Health Institute announced in a press release on Wednesday.

Diphtheria is a highly contagious and potentially fatal infection that can affect the nose and throat, and sometimes the skin. It can lead to difficulty breathing, heart failure and paralysis.

The disease re-appeared in Czechia in 2022 after a break of seven years. This year, doctors have so far registered six cases of the disease.

Czech children are vaccinated against the disease on a compulsory basis. However, experts say it appears that antibodies gradually disappear in adulthood and recommend re-vaccination.

Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský on Wednesday presented the Medal of Merit for Diplomacy to the outgoing Japanese Ambassador to Czechia, Hideo Suzuki. In his speech, Lipavský praised the ambassador's active engagement and his role in strengthening Czech-Japanese relations. Mr. Lipavský, who visited Japan last week, described bilateral relations between the two countries as excellent.

Mr. Suzuki, who has been ambassador to Czechia since September 2020, is to be replaced by career diplomat Kansuke Nagaoka.

The Medal of Merit for Diplomacy has been awarded since 2019 for  long-term contribution to Czech diplomacy, foreign policy and for extraordinary merits in the development of international relations between Czechia and other states or international organizations.

This year Prague saw one of its warmest winters in the past 250 years, the Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute reported on Wednesday.

Between the start of December and end of February, the oldest Czech meteorological station at Prague’s Klementinum recorded an average temperature of 5.1 degrees Celsius, which is 2.8 degrees higher than the long-term average.

This makes it the second warmest winter since measuring began at the station 1775, along with the winter of 2020. Above-average temperatures were mainly recorded in February, which was the warmest on record with an average of 8.1 degrees Celsius.

So far the warmest winter on record was in 2006, with an average temperature of 5.8 degrees Celsius. The coldest winter recorded was in 1829 with an average temperature of -6.1 degrees Celsius.

Some 62 percent of restaurants and pubs in Czechia increased the price of draft beer in reaction to the increase in VAT rates on drinks and food, according to a survey conducted by Plzeňský Prazdroj among 3,400 pubs in Czechia. According to the survey results, released on Wednesday, the price of beer on tap increased by an average of CZK 2.80 per pint.

The remaining 38 percent of pubs and restaurants have not yet increased prices, mainly because of fears of losing customers. Starting this year, the value added tax on draught beer and soft drinks went from 10 to 21 percent. A pint of draught beer currently costs between CZK 50 and 60.