The second wave of the epidemic coincides with the resumption of school and work, the Czech Republic restarts emergency
Since entering October, the number of new confirmed cases in many European countries has continued to increase. The total number of confirmed cases has exceeded 6.16 million, and the daily number of new patients exceeds 100,000. Among them, countries with more than 300 new diagnoses per million people include the Czech Republic and Spain.
According to statistics from the Czech Ministry of Health, since October 7, the number of newly confirmed cases exceeded 5,300 for several consecutive days. On October 9, the number of newly diagnosed cases in the Czech Republic reached a record 8,618.
The Czech Minister of Health Roman Primula stated that unlike the first wave of the epidemic in the spring, this infection is an outbreak of sexual transmission. The continuous increase in new cases has put tremendous pressure on medical institutions. On the one hand, more patients need to be hospitalized. To improve the hospital’s capacity to reserve beds, the government is considering transferring patients with mild illnesses to hotels with a higher vacancy rate for resettlement; on the other hand, medical staff are severely infected and face shortage of staff. So far, there are nearly 800 doctors and doctors. About 1,500 nurses were infected.
Primula called on citizens with medical education background to help the government fight the new coronavirus.
He emphasized that the most important task at present is to "flatten" the infection curve, that is, to take strict control measures again to reduce the number of new cases per day. October 10 to 25 is the key. If the control cannot be completed in a short time Mission, it is very likely that a joint ward (similar to China’s shelter hospitals) needs to be opened to deal with large-scale hospitalization of patients.
Part of the reason for the recurrence of the epidemic is that although the development of the epidemic has not been fully controlled, the government has to relax its prevention and control policies in the face of public opinion and the economic situation.
After the first cancellation of the mandatory wearing of masks at the end of May, many people have relaxed their vigilance against the epidemic in their daily lives.
Although health experts have repeatedly reminded the public to pay attention to meal hygiene, collective infections occur frequently due to shared meals.
At present, the Czech economy is unable to withstand large-scale shutdowns again. How to control the epidemic while ensuring the normal order of production and living is a major challenge facing the Czech government.
Prime Minister Babis also admitted on social media many times that in June, we felt that the virus had already left, and that it might be a mistake to quickly relax measures against the spread of the new coronavirus.
The head of the new crown epidemic prevention working group of the Czech Ministry of Health and an epidemiologist Klebeck said recently that the situation of the second wave of epidemics is not optimistic. As the seasons change rain and the weather increases, the temperature difference between day and night in some areas increases. Superimposed with the epidemic season of respiratory diseases, it will be more difficult to control.
In the second wave of the epidemic, the infected population has changed significantly.
According to statistics from the Czech Ministry of Health, compared with the first outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in the spring, the infected population of the second large-scale epidemic has undergone great changes, and the age of the infected persons is significantly younger.
Statistics show that in the spring, the confirmed population is mainly between 41 and 50 years old; the confirmed cases from August to October are mainly young people and children under 30 years old.
Health experts said that this contrast change is closely related to whether the government takes strict precautions.
In the spring, the government declared a state of emergency. Most institutions including schools were completely closed. Young people were restricted from participating in social activities, which greatly reduced the risk of infection.
With the resumption of primary and secondary schools in September and the resumption of work in the summer vacation abroad, the virus has spread more widely among students and working people.
In response to the large-scale spread of the epidemic again, the Czech government once again announced a 30-day "state of emergency" starting from October 5th. The main measures include: First, re-emphasize the mandatory wearing of masks in specific areas and maintain sufficient distance between public places. And wash your hands and disinfect your hands after touching public goods.
The second is to strictly restrict indoor gathering activities. For example, restaurants must control each table with less than 4 people and close at 8 pm, cancel all indoor sports activities except for international events, close cultural venues such as theaters and cinemas, and close public wireless networks in shopping malls. Reduce people's stay and so on.
The third is to restart remote teaching. Full-time teaching in high schools and universities with a large number of people will be fully switched to remote learning, while elementary schools with a small number of people will adopt some remote teaching.
In an interview with the media, Babis said that the government does not want to take extreme measures of "regional quarantine" because the quarantine measures against the first wave of the spring epidemic cost the Czech Republic 200 billion kronor (about 58.6 billion yuan).
But if people no longer realize the importance of wearing masks and strictly complying with epidemic prevention measures, the government will have to "close everything."
As the new crown pneumonia epidemic continues to raging in Europe, the Czech Republic, as one of the first countries in the European Union to take emergency measures and declare a "state of emergency", has achieved good results in the spring pandemic prevention with low infection rates and death rates, but The downward pressure on the economy continues to increase.
The “Macroeconomic Forecast” issued by the Czech Ministry of Finance in September showed that the Czech economy was fundamentally affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic. In order to prevent the spread of the disease, the mandatory measures that began in March caused a severe economic recession in the first half of the year. Long-term business shutdowns and production shutdowns caused a 10.7% drop in the Czech Republic's first quarter compared with the same period last year.
Even with the resumption of work and production since May, the Czech economy contracted in the second quarter to a record high, down 8.4% compared with the first quarter.
The report predicts that the annual economic decline will reach 6.6%, the public deficit will account for 6.4% of GDP, and the debt will grow to 39.4% of GDP.
Czech Finance Minister Alena Schillerova said in an interview that the epidemic has severely affected economic development, especially the real estate market and automobile industry. The Czech Republic is not expected to return to the level of 2019 GDP until 2023.
(Prague, October 11, by our reporter Zhong Weikai in Prague)