Prague Coronavirus update

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.

coronavirus update as of March 9, 2020:

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.

.The government has taken several measures to try to stop the spread of the virus:

• Flights and buses from northern Italy were stopped last week.
• People returning from Italy who think they have symptoms can call the appropriate officials, and healthcare workers will go to their homes to test them.  They do not want those people venturing out.
• And as of this past Saturday, all Czechs returning from northern Italy are required to self-quarantine for 14 days. This was then extended to foreigners living in the Czech Republic with both temporary and permanent residency.
• The government also put a price cap on face masks.

 
So, this is a critical period.  I hope that these measures will help to contain the outbreak and that hopefully the worst will be over when you are scheduled to travel. 

I will try to keep you updated on the situation. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact me.

Stay healthy and be well.