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the Czech RepublicFighting the world’s worst increase in Covid-19 infections, it deployed more police and soldiers on Monday to help enforce new lockdown measures that seek to confine people primarily to their home districts.
The first Minister Andrej Babis He has said that the healthcare system is facing collapse without the new restrictions due to a record number of patients in serious condition.
The country of 10.7 million has recorded the highest per capita infection rate in the world over the past week, according to the Our World in Data website, 11 times higher than its neighbor. Germany.
Exactly one year after the first Covid-19 case was reported, authorities deployed around 26,000 police officers and 3,800 soldiers to enforce the three-week order limiting free movement, although there were exemptions for work-related travel.
Preschools and classes for first and second graders also closed. Other students were already learning from home.
“People didn’t want to keep the rules before today and that is why Covid is here. Maybe this will help, ”Pavel Novotny, a train conductor, told Reuters outside a nearly empty station in Prague.
Babis has faced criticism that the new measures do not go far enough as factories remain open. He is balancing this with public frustration over closed closures that have seen nonessential shops, restaurants and entertainment largely closed since October.
Babis has rejected calls to shut down the industry, saying this would lead to job losses and has instead proposed more tests in factories.
The deputy prime minister Jan hamacek, which leads the lesser ruling party, the Social Democrats, has advocated for a reduced workforce until further testing can be done.
“According to experts, it is necessary to control companies, otherwise in a month we will end up exactly where we are now,” he said.
The country enacted tough measures a year ago when the pandemic began, and the largest manufacturers were idle for several weeks, costing the economy dearly.
Newer and more contagious variants of the virus have joined the most recent increase, and a slow rollout of the vaccine is not helping. The death toll has doubled since mid-December to 20,469.
Robin Sin, a regional vaccination coordinator and crisis medicine expert, said missteps, such as opening stores for a time before Christmas, exacerbated the country’s problems. Shutting down some non-critical industries for a while could help, Sin said, adding:
Limiting movement between districts is completely insufficient.
