The head of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics (ÚZIS) Ladislav Dušek announced that the reproduction number in the Czech Republic has dropped to 0,8 according to iDnes.cz. This was the number the government aimed for in order to start easing the COVID-19 related measures. Yet, it now seems like there is yet little reason for excessive optimism.
“If the increase in cases can be reduced and stable at the level of the reproduction number of 0.8, the individual measures will be gradually released at the shortest possible intervals,” the ex-minister of Health, Roman Prymula, said earlier.
The reproduction rate shows how many people will be infected by the carrier of the disease shall the population not be immune. It is generally stated that the reproduction number needs to be below 1 for the epidemic to stop spreading as fast, but the goal of 0.8 was set for the Czech Republic.
In the middle of September, the R0 number was at 1,6 and last week It was at 0,9. Furthermore, the percentage of new positive cases is also slowly going down.
“The percentage of positive tests is starting to decline. It is still large, but declining. Compared to the last week, the decline was 10%. The number of new infections is also falling. The only thing that is not decreasing so far, and this is understandable, is the number of patients in serious condition. If I have to interpret this somehow, then with caution I can say that we are now at a turning point or even slightly behind it, ” said Jan Blatny, Vinegret.cz reports.
