News

The number of people diagnosed with hepatitis E and C in Czechia in 2023 was twice as high as in the previous years, the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine announced at a press conference on Wednesday.

In 2021 and 2022, the State Institute of Health reported about 300 new cases of hepatitis E, while last year, it was 684. Hepatitis E used to be a common disease in countries with low hygiene standards, where it was spread through contaminated water or poor hand washing. In recent years, Europe has seen a surge in hepatitis E cases.

The number of people diagnosed with hepatitis C last year was 1,300, the highest number in the country’s modern history. Doctors say the increase may be caused by more frequent testing of people recovering from drug addiction.

Czechia has made significant progress in the past year in reforming its prosecutor's office as well as in completing a review of conflict of interest legislation, but it still has some shortcomings when it comes to investigating high-level corruption cases, according to the European Commission’s Rule of Law Report published this Wednesday.

Despite progress in some areas, the executive organ of the European Union also recommends Czechia to address the implementing of reforms on transparency of information on media ownership and take measures to address the remuneration of judges and judicial and prosecutorial staff.

Czechia's oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline from Russia have not been affected by the problems that Hungary and Slovakia are experiencing, the state oil pipeline operator Mero has said. Czechia's oil supplies are stable and the country is still receiving oil both via the Druzhba pipeline and via the TAL pipeline from Italy.

Slovakia and Hungary announced recently that they had not been receiving oil from the Russian company Lukoil. Ukraine unilaterally decided to ban the transit of oil from Lukoil through its territory in June and added the company to its sanctions list.

The Liberty Ostrava Steelworks, Czechia’s largest producer of steel, plans to close its coke plant and is preparing to lay off workers, the company said in a press release, without specifying how many employees would be laid off. Liberty submitted a proposal to reduce the number of employees to the trade unions on Tuesday.

The head of the KOVO trade union organisation, Petr Slanina, told the Czech News Agency that the redundancies could affect up to 2,600 people, with 2,300 employees leaving by the end of November and 300 by the end of January, according to information the trade union leaders received from the management.

The company currently employs about 5,000 people, although the majority have not been working since last December, when most of Liberty's operations were forced to close down. The employees have not been paid for two months and are being compensated by the state.

The steelworks has been in insolvency since June, after the company admitted it was unable to meet overdue liabilities exceeding CZK 5 billion.