Tuesday news summary

British strain of coronavirus has appeared in the Czech Republic

The occurrence of the so-called British coronavirus mutation, which is more contagious than the now widespread variant, has been confirmed in the Czech Republic. This was confirmed by Klára Spáková, a spokeswoman for the State Institute of Public Health (SZÚ). The laboratory of the institute examined samples corresponding to this mutation.

The government will ask for further extension of the emergency state

The government will propose further extension of the emergency state due to Covid-19 for another 30 days. If the cabinet obtains the consent of deputies, the state of emergency should last until the 21st of February. It has been in place since the 5th of October until the 22nd of January. The Chamber of Deputies will probably discuss the proposal of the government on Thursday.

Schools will continue in the current regime next week

Next week, schools will continue with the current teaching regime. Currently, only kindergartens and special schools and first and second grades of primary schools are open. Aneta Lednová, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Education, has previously said that the ministry's priority is, in particular, to renew the full-time teaching of the final years of primary and secondary schools as soon as possible. Howver, it won't happen in January.

Stationery and children's clothing can be bought from today

From today, Czechs will buy stationery, children's clothing and footwear in shops again. Based on numerous requests from citizens, the government has expanded the list of necessary goods with these items. Sales are not limited to specialty stores, but in others, other goods that are subject to government prohibition must be enclosed, for example, with tape.

COVID- Gastro program started and has technical problems

Yesterday, the Ministry of Industry and Trade launched a new program COVID - Gastro which is supposed to help closed restaurants. During the first day, the information system recorded more than 3,000 clients, according to the minister Karel Havlíček (for ANO). However, according to some entrepreneurs who tried to enter the website, the program has been having technical problems.