The Ministry of Health will propose to the government to shorten the validity of antigen and PCR tests.
Prime Minister Babiš said that the validity of PCR should be reduced from seven to three days and the antigen test from 72 to 24 hours. The Ministry of Health will present a specific proposal at a press conference on Friday.
The changes come in response to a recent marked rise in Covid infection numbers.
Chief Hygienist Pavla Svrčinová said that “the Czech Republic should reach a comparable level of rules of neighboring states”.
“Vaccination is stagnating, we have not yet vaccinated even 60 percent of the population,” said Svrčinová on Czech Television.
“We have thought of different strategies to motivate citizens to come to the first two doses of vaccination and to come to the third dose, where a relatively small percentage of people who have been invited to revaccinate have arrived so far,” Svrčinová said.
As part of the strategy, mobile vaccination teams should be sent to places with lower vaccination coverage.
According to Babiš, vaccination is a crucial factor in managing the pandemic and expects the same strategy from the next government. “There should be fewer paid tests per month, the current Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch is to discuss it with the future government coalition”.
Latest COVID-19 statistics
There were nearly 1,500 confirmed COVID cases in the Czech Republic on Wednesday, one-third more than a week ago, and the number of hospitalized rose to 407. 80 of them are in a serious condition, according to the data the Health Ministry released this morning.
The daily increases in the number of COVID infected are still on the highest level since May 11. The spread of the infection has been accelerating for about two months.
In the past seven days, 28 people died as a result of Covid-19. In early September, less than 5 deaths a week were recorded.
