News: Thursday, June 10th, 2021

Foreigners without Czech insurance can register for Covid jab from Friday

Foreigners without Czech public health insurance can begin registering for a Covid vaccine as of Friday. They will receive Pfizer/BioNTech jabs at designated centres, not via doctors’ surgeries, at a cost of up to 850 crowns.

According to Interior Ministry statistics, as of the end of March, more than 656,000 foreigners were living in the Czech Republic, the majority of whom have permanent residency.

The government included foreigners without permanent residence in the vaccination system following complaints to the Ministry of Health and criticism by Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hříb. To register, it will be necessary to provide an email address and phone number.

Health Ministry: Under-60s won’t get AstraZeneca, Johnson&Johnson vaccines

The Health Ministry has issued a recommendation that the AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson coronavirus vaccines only be given to over 60-year-olds, the Czech News Agency reported on Wednesday.

In its decision, the Health Ministry followed earlier recommendations from the Czech Vaccinology Association and the State Drug Control Agency. The move also follows similar age restrictions issued by other EU member states.

The recommendation does not apply to those individuals younger than 60 who have already received one dose of either AstraZeneca or Johnson&Johnson. These will be inoculated with the same vaccine in their second dose.

The reason for the age limitation of these two vaccines is the very rare side effect of thrombocytopenia syndrome, in which blood clots form mainly in the brain. According to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the incidence of such blood clots occuring is estimated at 0.01 percent of those vaccinated, mostly at a younger age.

SZÚ: Regular alcohol consumption wider spread in Czechia in 2020

Last year, the number of people in the Czech Republic who often drank alcohol increased by 2.4 percentage points, according to research by the State Institute of Public Health (SZÚ). Experts believe the increase is related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

One out of five respondents said they drank daily or several times a week in 2020. Estimated average annual consumption also rose significantly, to 8 litres of alcohol, an increase of 0.3 litres. Consumption per capita was the highest in three years.

Climate activists occupy Czech open-cast coal mine excavators

Several climate activists occupied two excavators in the northern Bohemia open-cast coal mines of Bílina and Nástup-Tušimice on Thursday morning, to protest the government’s timeline for switching to greener energy.

The mines operator, Severočeské doly, said work done by the excavators had to be stopped because of the protest. Police are on site and are monitoring the situation, the press agency ČTK reports.

The Czech Republic has committed to ending coal mining in a bid to lower greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 versus 1990 levels, and to net-zero by 2050, in line with the European Green Deal policy framework.

Nearly all Czech universities drop in annual QS ranking

The annual international ranking of universities carried out by the British company Quacquarelli Symonds saw almost all Czech higher education institutions drop their scores this year.

As in previous years, Charles University in Prague placed highest nationally, but it dropped from 260th to 266th place.

Among the top 500 universities in the world were also the Higher Chemical-Technical School (VŠCHT) and the Czech Technical University (ČVUT), the only one to improve its position, going 432nd to 403rd place, the best achieved to date.

Czech archaeologists find prehistoric settlement, sacrificial site in Rychnov

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of several settlements from the period of agricultural prehistory along the future route of a motorways bypass in Doudleb nad Orlicí, in the Rychnov region.

The discovery of the settlement, where sacrifices likely took place, is said to be the most remarkable. It should be the first discovery of its kind in Eastern Bohemia and among the first in the country, University of Hradec Králové and Rychnov Museum archaeologists told ČTK.

Weather

Friday should be mostly cloudy throughout the day, with isolated rain and thunderstorms, but skies clearing in the evening. Average highs of 22 and 26 degrees Celsius are forecast.