I’d like to give you another update on the Coronavirus outbreak in the Czech Republic.

As I reported in my last post, the strict measures that were enacted by the Czech government when it realized that: a) Italy’s infection rates were exploding and its hospitals were overwhelmed, and b) lots of Czechs were in Italy on skiing holidays for the winter school break have been paying off.

From our first three cases diagnosed on March 2nd to March 30th, we now have 3,001 confirmed cases of COVID in the Czech Republic. Although that's a big increase, we've not seen exponential growth, and our hospitals still have the capacity to treat the sick.

Sadly, since my last post, we’ve now had our first deaths – the number is now 23. Almost all deaths were people over 70 and/or with underlying health issues. Twenty-five people have recovered from the disease.

Finally! ... A coherent narrative about the origins of the Great War.

Many of you know that I have written several guidebooks about Prague. But you might not know that last year I participated in the publication of a book in a different way. I had the pleasure of helping friend and fellow author, Maggie Ledford Lawson, format and publish her great work, Passage to Byzantium: The Romanov-Habsburg Feud that Led to World War I.

This book is a life's work for Maggie, who spend most of her career as a journalist in Washington, DC, and later Prague. She spent more than a decade researching for this book.

As you know if you've followed my recent posts, the Czech Government has enacted strict measures in an attempt to "flatten the curve" (a phrase we are all very familiar with now) of the Coronavirus outbreak here. And I'm happy to say that it appears that it might be paying off.

On Sunday we passed the 1,000 mark in terms of the number of infected people, but so far, we have had NO deaths due to the disease, and 6 people have recovered. That is certainly wonderful news!

I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but things continue to change by the hour here in Prague.
 
In my last post, I reported that the whole Czech Republic went into full quarantine on Monday. That meant:

• Only grocery stores, pharmacies, some post offices and bank branches, hospitals and doctors' offices were open.
  
• People were required to work from home if possible.
• You could leave your house only to go to/from work (if you’re not working from home); to buy groceries, medicines and other necessities; and to walk your dog.
  

Things are still moving quickly here in the Czech Republic. Friday I posted that restaurants and bars were required to close at 8:00 p.m., but by the time Friday was over, that was tightened to where restaurants and bars had to close altogether except to serve food or coffee to go through windows. Furthermore, all shops other than grocery stores and pharmacies were ordered to close.

As you can see from the photo above, the weather was very nice on the weekend, so after staying in as recommended most of the week, I went out for a walk on both Saturday and Sunday.  I was surprised to see so many people out and about.  While most shops were closed, cafes and restaurants at least had personnel inside with signs posted saying they will serve food and drinks through a window. Some were selling their unprepared food supplies, as the order to close came suddenly and they were fully stocked. I bought some (overpriced) vegetables from an Italian restaurant (some beautiful imported eggplant) just to help them out. But otherwise, because it was warm and sunny, I guess, lots of people were out and about drinking coffee and eating pastries, so in some respects it looked almost like a normal weekend in the neighborhood.

I began yesterday's post by saying that things are moving quickly here as facts change on the ground. And that is still the case.

Yesterday I posted that events with attendees of more than 100 people are canceled, but within a few hours, that was changed to events with more than 30 people. In addition, the government ordered all restaurants to limit patrons to 30 maximum, and restaurants must close at 8:00 p.m. from today.

Here’s the latest update on the Coronavirus outbreak in the Czech Republic. Things are happening quickly, as they are in the U.S. and other countries around the globe.
 
Since my last update on March 9th, confirmed cases have gone from 29 to 32 the next day to 94 as of last night (March 11th).  This is expected, given how contagious the virus is and, as I mentioned in my last post, the return of so many Czech citizens and residents from Italy, one of the most highly affected areas, over the weekend. As I also mentioned at that time, the government had begun to take measures designed to curb the spread in an attempt to prevent what has happened in Italy.

Since then, more measures have been taken. On Tuesday, it was announced that all schools would close from the following day through the beginning of April, and events with more than 100 attendees were cancelled. Yesterday, the government announced that all museums and galleries would close, followed by an announcement that castles and other historic sites would also close.

Last week I reported that Prague had its first cases of Coronavirus. From those initial 3 cases, we are now up to 29 as of yesterday. For those of you who have a trip planned here or are considering a trip, I'd like to provide another update on what is happening currently.

As you probably know, northern Italy virtually shut down over the weekend. That means that Czech citizens who were on holiday there are returning en masse currently (and there are quite a lot of people in this category because it’s the first spring break here, and many Czechs go to northern Italy to ski at this time of year, but the Italian ski resorts are closing all at once).

It is still the case (as it was last week), that so far, all cases of Corornavirus in the Czech Republic (29 now) are people who were in Italy or people connected to those who were in Italy.

I know that most of you who are considering a trip to Prague this year are concerned about the #coronavirus and are not sure what to do. We are all in the same boat, & at the moment the best thing to do is to stay informed, follow healthcare professionals' advice and track government travel warnings and restrictions.

Here in #Prague, we had our first cases confirmed this past Sunday (3 people). All of them had been to Italy just a few days prior, which has been hit very hard with the virus. Since then, another two cases were confirmed today, and both of those people had been either in contact with the previously identified cases or had stayed at the same hotel in Italy.

So far, we do not have community spread or clusters. However, this virus seems to be highly contagious, so my guess is it's just a matter of time before more cases appear, as one of the infected persons was a tourist who had been out and about before becoming ill.

Anyone who has ever lived in Prague or has spent a significant amount of time here knows that the city’s public transport system is world class.  In fact, on the whole it is probably one of the best public transport networks in the world.  It has everything you want in public transport - it’s:

• Safe,
• Reliable,
• On time,
• Frequent,
• Extensive, and
• Cheap.

And not only is Prague’s system wonderful n a practical sense, its tram network is a great way to see the city, including the historical parts that you’ll want to see on your visit.  As I mention in my guidebook, “Prague Travel Tips:  An American’s Guide to Her Adopted City,” certain tram routes are especially beautiful, such as the 17 and 18 along the river and the 22 up to Prague Castle and out to beautiful Náměstí Míru in the trendy Vinohrady neighborhood.