Coronavirus outbreak: Czech Republic confirms five cases of epidemic

Czech Republic has reportedly confirmed five new cases of the COVID-19 virus as of March 3, all cases are linked with travel to Italy, confirmed the Health Minister of the Czech Republic. Czech state broadcaster Radio Prague International announced on March 3 that the three patients are the Czech nationals who studied in Northern Italy. The third patient is an American citizen who studied in Milan and entered Czech, confirmed reports.

One of the patients infected is a teacher at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague who attended a conference in Italy. He contracted the strain of the COVID-19 during the trip. Symptoms surfaced well after he returned to Czech, and a few days later, he tested positive to coronavirus. The school cancelled classes and the entire staff along with the students were isolated. Health authorities were in the process of mapping the patient’s contacts to ascertain the individuals that may have been exposed as per the international media report.

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Czech planning to declare emergency

According to the reports, the interior ministry of Czech is planning to declare a state of emergency within the country as a measure to control the drastic spread of the disease. It is also looking to impose travel restrictions against the Italian citizens as well as suspend all flights with South Korea and Italy. Czech has a pending consultation with the EU regarding the travel ban.

Prime Minister of Czech Republic Andrej Babis told the media that his country will halt all travel to the nations where the impact of the coronavirus is major, and cases are escalating. People are urged to avoid travelling to Italy. Bus line operator RegioJet also plans to suspend services on Prague-Venice-Rome and Prague-Milan international routes effective the end of the week, he added. Industry Minister Karel Havlicek mentioned in the reports that Czech was considering to ground the planes flying from Italian cities of Milan, Venice, and Bologna for at least two weeks initially, the decision will be revised basis further analysis of the situation.

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