PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Republic’s outgoing and incoming prime ministers put aside their differences on Tuesday to support an initiative to administer 1 million COVID-19 reminders in a week.
Outgoing Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Petr Fiala, the Prime Minister designate, expressed their support for the plan announced by the group “Doctors help the Czech Republic” which aims to come to the aid of hospitals in difficulty.
“The pandemic knows no political barriers,” Babis said of the unusual partnership.
“There are times when we have to show our common will,” Fiala said.
The country is facing a record rise in coronavirus infections. The new daily increase hit a record high of nearly 28,000 cases on Thursday. The infection rate was 1,230 new cases per 100,000 population for the past seven days on Monday, making it one of the hardest hit countries currently.
A number of COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care exceeded 1,000 on Monday for the first time since April 14, with the total number of hospitalizations at 6,394 on Monday. About 30% of them have received two shots of a vaccine, while authorities hope the booster will make a difference.
The initiative has enlisted their colleagues at outpatient clinics to help accelerate the vaccination effort as new vaccination centers open across the country to meet recent growing demand.
Almost 6.4 million people have been fully vaccinated in the Czech Republic. More than 826,000 received a booster shot. Overall, nearly 2.2million people have tested positive for coronavirus in the country of 10.7million, with 33,069 deaths.
Fiala was sworn in on Sunday to lead an 18-member, five-party government that won a majority in October’s legislative elections.
Babis, the populist billionaire, officially resigned after his centrist ANO (YES) movement lost the election, but he remains in power until the full new government is appointed. That shouldn’t happen before mid-December.
___
Follow all AP pandemic stories at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
Comments are closed.