Twice-weekly workplace Covid tests get underway in CR

From Monday employers in the Czech Republic are obliged to provide two Covid-19 tests a week for their staff, including those who are vaccinated against the virus. The health minister previously said the system would be in place for three weeks at most as the authorities brace for a surge in cases on the back of the relatively contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Schools went back to testing of pupils and students once a week, after a doubling of testing efforts for a fortnight at the start of the new term.

There were 16,000 newly confirmed Covid cases in the Czech Republic over Saturday and Sunday combined, two and a half times more than the previous weekend.