State of emergency set to end next week after ANO decision

Government leaders ANO say they will not seek to have the current state of emergency extended beyond April 30. Party chief Andrej Babiš announced the decision on TV Prima. The government initially imposed a 30-day state of emergency on March 13 in view of the coronavirus situation. MPs later voted to extend it to the end of this month.

The chairman of the junior party in the governing coalition, Jan Hamáček of the Social Democrats, had called for a further extension but said if Prime Minister Babiš was against there was no point in taking the matter to the lower house.

As of Wednesday morning, 201 people with Covid-19 had died in the Czech Republic. Over 7,000 cases have been detected to date.

Author: Ian Willoughby