Thursday news summary

Government will continue negotiating tighter restrictions

Today, the government will continue negotiations on tightening coronavirus measures in the Czech Republic. The ministers agreed on the scope of the measures on Wednesday, and they will meet with the opposition tonight. According to current information, kindergartens could be closed and pupils in the first and second grades of primary schools could stop attending schools. The Cabinet is also considering restrictions on movement between regions or to a certain distance from home.

From today, Czechs over the age of 15 must wear a respirator in busy places. It is obligatory in shops or public transport or at airports. People must also wear them in medical facilities and in cars, unless members of the same household drive in them. According to an extraordinary measure of the Ministry of Health, a similar covering with a filtration efficiency of at least 95 percent or two disposable medical masks together can be used.

Covid update

The score of the anti-epidemic system is at 75 points out of a hundred. Although this corresponds to the fourth degree, the government has not followed the measures according to the system for several weeks. The reproduction number is still high, on Wednesday it was 1.18.

Czechs bought more products in pharmacies last year

Sales of prescription drugs in Czech pharmacies and hospitals last year amounted to 71 billion crowns, which is a year-on-year increase of seven percent. There was also a growing interest in non-prescription drugs and health care products, where sales increased by 5.5 percent to 26 billion crowns compared to 2019. A significant increase in sales was recorded by online pharmacies, which increased sales by 54 percent to 3.2 billion crowns. This follows from data provided to ČTK by the analytical company IQVIA.