Coronavirus: The Czech Republic is to close schools indefinitely and ban events hosting more than 100 people #COVID19 #coronavirus #CzechRepublic #quarantine #epidemic

New Coronavirus Alert_1

The Czech Republic is to close schools indefinitely and ban events hosting more than 100 people in measures to contain the coronavirus, its prime minister said on Tuesday.

The country has reported 40 cases of coronavirus since detecting the first infections on 1 March. In most cases, the virus appeared in people coming from northern Italy, the worst-hit area of Europe.

“Our paramount task is the health of our citizens,” the prime minister, Andrej Babis, told a news conference. “We understand this will be very unpleasant for people, but we want to prevent, by all means, what happened in Italy from happening here.”

Officials said the measures were decided after a Prague taxi driver was diagnosed with the disease, the first case where the source of infection could not be identified.

The new measures will close schools and universities, but not kindergartens, from Wednesday. A ban from Tuesday night on events ranges from film and theatre to other cultural, sports and religious gatherings.

The Czech government has already banned flights with Italy, and issued mandatory quarantines for thousands returning from vacation in the southern European country.

On Monday, it banned hospital and retirement home visits, and started border checks including taking temperatures and testing any foreign travellers feeling ill.

Courtesy of theguardian.com


Discover more from

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply

Discover more from

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Discover more from

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading