Health

Czechia records highest daily Covid toll as cases across Europe surge

Madrid Desk, Sep 9 (efe-epa).- The Czech Republic on Wednesday reported its largest single-day spike since the start of the pandemic, while the Netherlands and Portugal both saw the highest daily toll for new infections since April as Germany prepares to tailor its travel restriction advice.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Health authorities in the Czech Republic on Wednesday registered 1,164 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, the highest single day spike since the beginning of the pandemic.

Roman Prymula, who coordinates the country’s response to Covid-19, said the country of 10.6 million people was experiencing an “exponential growth” of transmissions.

He said the recent uptick in cases was a result of people “not respecting the rules” designed to curb the spread of the virus.

The latest 24-hour infection tally was a full 46 percent higher than the previous record in the country, which was 796 on Friday.

There are currently 9,272 active cases in the central European nation, the highest at any point since the onset of the outbreak. The majority of patients have light symptoms.

The World Health Organization’s Czech office on Tuesday said it was concerned by the evolution of the pandemic in the country.

The message was dismissed by the country’s populist billionaire prime minister Andrej Babis, who told the organization to “keep quiet.”

“The WHO that didn’t recommend face masks and didn’t even know there was a pandemic,” he said on Twitter.

PORTUGAL

Portuguese health officials reported the highest daily number of new coronavirus cases in more than five months.

Over the past 24 hours, 646 new Covid-19 cases were recorded, the highest since Apr. 20, when the country was under a state of emergency after the first wave of the pandemic had taken hold in Europe.

“Due to the return from holidays and the start of classes in schools and increased mobility, the government expected that the number of cases would rise,” deputy health secretary Jamila Madeira told a press conference.

She pointed to family gatherings as a main source of transmissions, with the country’s children due to return to school next week.

Forty-five percent of the infections detected in the last 24 hours are centered in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region.

Portugal has reported a total of 1,849 deaths out of 61,541 infections since the pandemic began.

NETHERLANDS

The Netherlands reported its highest single day increase of new Covid-19 infections since April 18 as officials mull new measures to prevent a second wave in the country.

One day after health officials announced that the rate of infections over the past week had more than doubled, prime minister Mark Rutte and health minister Hugo de Jonge confirmed that 1,140 people had been diagnosed with coronavirus.

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