Czechia records most whooping cough cases in one year since 1960s

Some 477 new cases of whooping cough were registered in Czechia between Monday and Wednesday morning, with the total number of cases this year already reaching 2750. This is the highest number of registered cases of the infectious disease in the country in a single calendar year since the 1960s.

However, Deputy Health Minister Josef Pavlovic said that neither whooping cough nor any of the other infectious diseases that have been on the rise in Czechia recently, such as tuberculosis and diphtheria, are close to reaching epidemic levels yet. He also said that the country has sufficient amounts of the necessary medicines and vaccines. According to the director of the Department of Public Health Protection, Matyáš Fošum, the manufacturer of the whooping cough vaccine for children has reported a shortage, but 10,000 doses will be imported from the UK next week.