Minister Hamáček confirmed the increase in the number of infected, but added that the situation is still relatively favorable. The main task of last week’s crisis staff was to check bed capacity. He is said to have fulfilled the staff, there are plenty of beds available and Hamáček is not afraid of complications.
The staff negotiated backup beds with the mayor of Prague, Hřib, for patients with a moderate course, which, however, cannot be placed in home care, for example. The plan is to build backup capacity in other parts of the Czech Republic. Hamáček wants to look for other backup capacities in hotel-type facilities – they have better facilities than, for example, dormitories.
Hygienists will be assisted by 200 to 250 police officers. According to Hamáček, they will join the process voluntarily and will help with tracing the contacts of people infected with coronavirus. According to the Minister of the Interior, the stocks of protective equipment are sufficient.
The distribution of protective equipment to school staff has yet to be decided. “If the government decides on distribution, the fire brigade will deliver supplies to 14 distribution points, from where they will travel to the school’s founders,” Minister Hamáček said at a press conference.
According to the Minister, the quarantine for homeless citizens will be solved in the same way as in the spring – they will be taken care of by municipalities with different powers. Schools can also be closed within “orange” districts in otherwise “green” regions. However, the decision of the hygienists must be made by Thursday evening.
Remdesivirus stocks are being checked and new deliveries are being distributed. It is said that 3,672 voters took part in the drive-in elections, the most in the Central Bohemian Region. Hamáček called on citizens to go to the polls, the measures are said to be sufficient. “It’s safer than going shopping,” he said.
In case any member of the election commission will be positive for Covid-19, advances are prepared. There are currently several dozen infected firefighters and more than a hundred people are in quarantine, Drahoslav Ryba, general director of the Fire and Rescue Service of the Czech Republic, informed.
According to Hamáček, the crisis law is already ready, including comments from other parties. “He was sent to an inter-ministerial comment procedure,” the minister said. It is said that it is not possible to speed up the change of the constitutional law.
The Minister of the Interior also commented on the proposed state budget deficit of 320 billion crowns. “It is much closer to reality,” Hamáček said, adding that he would take the proposal even closer. It still lacks off the abolition of the super-gross wage.
The crisis staff was originally scheduled to meet on Wednesday, but negotiations were postponed due to government action. On Wednesday, she decided to declare a state of emergency. This is to give the government the opportunity to respond better to a pandemic.
The number of coronavirus infections rose sharply during September, and the health ministry said the health system would collapse if the government did not intervene in time.
The central crisis staff, which was already operational during the first wave of the epidemic, was re-established by the government last week. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (YES) was initially opposed to the re-establishment of the crisis staff, but eventually agreed to convene it.
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