Number of coronavirus cases almost doubles within a week

There were 5680 new cases of coronavirus in the Czech Republic last week, 2400 more than in the previous week. More than 1000 new cases were registered each day, which hasn’t happened since the beginning of May. The number of people hospitalized with the disease has also increased by about a third to around 200 patients, and the number of people in a serious condition is also increasing significantly. Five people died of Covid within the past week. Health Minister Vlastimil Válek expects that the current wave will peak in the second half of July at just below 20,000 cases per day.

According to the State Health Institute, the current wave is due to the more contagious BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the omicron virus. Findings so far have shown that these variants are over ten times more contagious than the original form of the virus. The Ministry of Health recommends that people over 65 and the chronically ill get revaccinated before the autumn, as the vaccine is still effective against death and serious illness with the omicron BA.5 subvariant. 40,318 people have died from Covid in Czechia so far.