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Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has sharply rejected claims that the cabinet intended to pave the way for legal changes that would weaken the role of Parliament in times of crisis and put more powers in the hands of the government.
The weekly Respekt and the news site Aktualne.cz wrote on Monday that the Defence Ministry is preparing a draft legislation to that effect to be debated by the government in the coming days. According to Defence Minister Lubomir Metnar the government was only to receive suggestions from a group of experts regarding the possibilities of resolving crisis situations. He said the document had been commissioned as a set of guidelines for crisis situations when the government or Parliament were not action capable.
The prime minister reassured politicians and the public that no such document would be discussed saying that the ministry should have known better than to come forward with such an initiative at the present time.
The Czech government is expected to finalize the details of an emergency aid package for entrepreneurs and employers to mitigate the impacts of the coronavirus crisis on Tuesday.
These include a six month moratorium on mortgage and other loan repayments and the sum of CZ 15,000 a month for all who were forced to close their businesses within the restrictions imposed by the government.
The kurzarbeit system, approved by the government earlier to try to prevent massive lay-offs, should be launched on April 1st.
The Czech government on Monday extended the restrictions on movement and business taken to combat the spread of the coronavirus until April 11.
The conditions remain the same –people should stay at home as much as possible with the exception of trips to work, necessary visits of family and loved ones and purchases of food, vital supplies, fuel and medicine.
The restrictions on shops, restaurants, pubs, cafes, galleries, sports facilities and other institutions will also remain in place until April 11.
The number of coronavirus cases registered in the Czech Republic crossed 3,000 on Tuesday morning with 184 new cases registered on Monday.
The number of deaths is now at 23 and the number of those who have recovered at 25.
According to Health Ministry statistics 277 people are hospitalized with COVID 19 and roughly a fifth of them are in a serious to critical condition.
The present state reflects the ministry’s projections from last week according to which the number of infected was expected to reach the 3,000 mark by the end of the month. The first case was reported on March 1.
All persons returning from abroad will be placed in a two week quarantine, in line with a new measure aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus approved by the Czech government on Monday.
The decision was taken in view of the worsening situation world-wide. Up until now only persons returning from 19 countries which are considered high risk were placed in quarantine.
The measure will not affect cross border health workers, fire crews, social workers or diplomats.
A group of Czech singers have come together to produce video clips as an expression of gratitude to those fighting the coronavirus epidemic on the front lines.
Ondřej Brzobohatý, Olga Lounová, Marta Jandova and Vojta Dyk created the songs “Life” and “Never give up” for the country’s doctors and nurses, fire fighters, police and social workers.
The video clips have been released with an appeal for financial support to the Czech Association of nurses.
Freezing temperatures broke records at monitoring stations around the country as night time lows dropped to – 13.7 degrees Celsius on Monday night.
The absolute record of – 14.5 degrees Celsius registered in 2004 was not broken.
According to the Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute the unseasonably cold weather will continue at least until mid-week with Tuesday night expected to be colder still.
Wednesday should be clear to partly cloudy with day temperatures between 5 and 9 degrees Celsius.
The coronavirus pandemic is already changing our lives. Many everyday activities have moved into the virtual world. This applies especially to our social life but increasingly work and learning as well. Psychologists underline that the key to getting over this difficult time is to stay in touch and not to get into isolation. Vít Pohanka describes how he deals with the problem with his foreign students at the University of Pardubice.
Czech booksellers are reporting a significant rise in online sales of books and board games, following the closure of mortar-and-brick stores due to the coronavirus outbreak. At the same time, book-sellers warn the surge in online sales can hardly cover the loss in physical book sales.
As the Czech Republic continues its struggle to contain the growing number of coronavirus infections, some have pointed to the risks associated with the thousands of drug users and homeless people living on the streets. These may not only be at high risk from the virus, but, if not isolated, could help spread COVID-19 virus in their towns and cities.
The highly successful Czech-born illustrator and author Petr Sís has been resident in New York for several decades. As the city comes under intense pressure from the coronavirus pandemic, he discusses his latest projects and more in this interview from the Czech Center New York series Artists That Never Give Up in the City That Never Sleeps.
Over 4,000 Czechs stranded around the world by the coronavirus crisis have been repatriated this month, many on special government planes. The latest such flight will leave from Chicago on Tuesday evening, taking 170 Czech citizens in difficult situations to Prague. I discussed the special flight and related issues with Zdeněk Beránek, deputy chief of mission at the Czech Embassy in Washington, D.C.
The Czech civic initiative Covid19CZ was formed just a few weeks ago to try to harness technological, medical and engineering know-how to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus and treat patients in critical condition. The volunteer project now looks set to deliver open-sourced ventilators to Prague hospitals in a matter of days.
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