News: Thursday, July 8th, 2021

Minister: Fully vaccinated Czechs don’t need tests after inbound travel

From Friday, Czechs who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will not need to be tested or self-isolate, regardless of the country from which they are travelling, the minister of foreign affairs, Jakub Kulhánek, said on Thursday. Instead it will be sufficient to fill in an arrival form.

However, this will not apply to states regarded as carrying an extremely high risk of contracting the coronavirus, the Czech Foreign Ministry said on its website.

Last week Health Minister Adam Vojtěch said that from July 9 people arriving from all countries would have to undergo tests.

Coronavirus infections on Wednesday at double the rate of last week

Wednesday saw 279 people test positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus in the Czech Republic, more than double the number of infections detected on the same day last week and the highest daily number of new cases detected since June 8. A total of 33 coronavirus patients required hospitalisation on Wednesday, of which two had to be placed in intensive care units.

Prague is currently the region in the Czech Republic with the highest rates of new coronavirus infections (32 per 100,000). The state-wide rate of average infections lies at 10 per 100,000.

Czech government to discuss donating excess coronavirus vaccines

The Czech Republic would like to send some of its AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine deliveries as a gift to a non-European state, Health Minister Adam Vojtěch has told Czech Radio. The idea is set to be discussed by the government next week. It is not yet clear whether Czechia will choose to send the vaccines directly to specific states or into the COVAX international programme for developing countries.

The plan comes at a time when the Czech Republic has a sufficient number of AstraZeneca vaccines in store and Mr Vojtěch told Czech Radio that further deliveries are not necessary.

Ruling ANO party slips back into lead in latest STEM poll

A newly released poll, conducted by the STEM agency in June, put Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s ANO party at the top of a hypothetical general election result with 26.7 percent of the vote, 2.7 percent more than in the previous month.

The Pirate and Mayors and Independents parties' coalition fell by four points to second place with 24.1 percent, followed by the SPOLU coalition, made up of the Civic Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the TOP 09 party, with 17.4 percent.

The Freedom and Direct Democracy party would come in fourth with 10.9 percent of the vote. The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia and the Social Democrats both polled at 5.5 percent, meaning that they would pass the threshold necessary to get into the Chamber of Deputies. Přísaha, a new party formed around former police chief Robert Šlachta would just manage to scrape into the lower house with 5.1 percent of the vote.

Makers of hit Owners complete new movie

The makers of the huge hit Czech film Owners have completed a new movie, the comedy Extraordinary Event. The film, directed by Jiří Havelka and produced by Marek Jeníček, takes place on one day and centres on events after a train leaves a small local station.

Owners drew no fewer than 320,000 viewers to Czech cinemas following its release in 2019.

Czech Center New York launches video talks on Czech National Gallery gems

A new online lecture series entitled Highlights from the National Gallery Prague is being launched by the Czech Center New York on Thursday.

The video talks are being presented by Veronika Wolf and offer in-depth looks at some of the most valuable works in the gallery’s collection, while participants in the free event will also be able to pose questions.

Rutt and Palát help Tampa Bay Lightning retain Stanley Cup

Czech ice hockey players Jan Rutt and Ondřej Palát helped their club the Tampa Bay Lightning win the NHL’s Stanley Cup on Wednesday. The two were also in the Lightning team that lifted the trophy last season and join six other Czechs, including Jaromír Jágr, Patrik Eliáš and Dominik Hašek, who have earned two Stanley Cup rings.

Jaroslav Pouzar and Jiří Hrdina hold the Czech record as three-time winners of hockey’s biggest trophy.

Weather forecast

It should be rainy in the Czech Republic on Friday, with an average high temperature of 22 degrees Celsius. Overcast skies and highs of around 24 degrees Celsius are expected at the weekend.