PRAGUE (CZECH REPUBLIC) – The Czech Republic’s health ministry data showed on Saturday that the country recorded as many as 11,105 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday, the biggest daily rise so far. The country is facing Europe’s biggest spike in the number of infections.
The data also shows that the total number of cases since March has gone up to 160,112, double the figure seen on Oct. 2.
It has marked more than 74,000 cases in the two weeks to Friday, which are 10,000 more than Italy, said the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
Czech hospitals are racing to find more beds as the patient numbers are tripling this month to touch 3,120, seven times the peak seen during the first wave.
Over the past seven days, the country of 10.7 million has witnessed 333 deaths bringing the total count to 1,283.
It will be more difficult in the coming weeks, said health officials, adding that it was not facing any threat of collapsing. By the end of the month, there will be 5,000 patients in hospital and a fifth will be in intensive care.
The government is constructing a makeshift medical facility at a fairground in Prague.
It has also reached an agreement with neighbouring Germany to send some patients to that country, which has ten times fewer cases per capita for the past two weeks.