Fewer Czechs dying of COVID-19 despite record infections

The number of Czech citizens dying of COVID-19 has been steadily declining despite a recent record surge in coronavirus infections caused by the highly transmittable omicron variant.

The figures released by the Health Ministry on Wednesday show that 121 people died in the last seven days, down from 206 the previous period and 289 another seven days back.

New infections in the Czech Republic had been declining since a record high in late November, but started growing again in January driven by the omicron variant that has became dominant.

The daily increases hit a record high of almost 40,000 cases on Tuesday, about 11,000 more than a week ago and the third time a record was set in the last eight days. The 7-day infection rate jumped to 1,689 new cases per 100,000 residents on Tuesday compared to 1,585 a day earlier.

The number of COVID-19 patients needing hospitalization in the European Union nation had been declining since Dec 6 but has started to grow slightly this week.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control says 63.1% of the Czech Republic's 10.5 million people are fully vaccinated, below the EU average of 70%.

The Czech Republic has registered 37,092 virus-related deaths in the pandemic.

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