Loose Prague is afraid of another wave
Prague hygienists said on Thursday that they had received seven confirmed cases of the delta mutation and one case of the gamma variant, formerly the Brazilian covid mutation, in the past three weeks. “At the same time, we expect confirmation or refutation of seven suspicions of the delta variant,” said Prague spokesman Zbyněk Boublík.
“We do not know how large a share of the delta we have in Prague,” councilor Milena Johnová (Prague herself) commented on the situation on Thursday. Last week, according to her, Prague recorded the highest reproductive number of diseases in the entire country, exceeding 1.3.
Slow the onset
At the same time, hygienists also warned against the re-growth of cases in Prague. The declining trend has stopped here in the last week. In the week to June 22, there were 230 diseases in the capital, compared to 161 a week earlier, an increase of more than a third. “One of the possibilities is the increased movement of people in the capital, ie the great mobility of the population,” added Boublík.
According to him, Prague is now the region with the highest incidence of covid-19 in the Czech Republic. According to John, who talks about the situation with the Ministry of Health Adam Vojtěch (YES), the state should act. “We need to delay the arrival of another wave, the Indian delta mutation, to slow the onset. In our opinion, the government is not doing enough in this direction, “said John.
Boletus due to the delta mutation on Thursday spoke of déjà vu from the turn of the year, when the British mutation spread. He called for restraint. “From our point of view, it is necessary to maintain respirators in public transport and to address issues that limit hygiene,” the mayor said.
According to him, hygienists do not get contacts and sometimes not even the exact address of people who return to Prague from risky countries, while Prague is the gateway to the Czech Republic. According to Hřiba, it has not yet been proven that public transport travel, if people are protected by respirators, is risky from a pandemic point of view.
Campaign and homeless people
The capital is appealing for vaccinations and is launching a new campaign aimed at younger students. According to Hřiby, the statistics clearly show that the interest in vaccinations decreases with age. “It’s a fact that we focus on campaigns,” Hrib said.
Some groups in Prague remain endangered. According to Hřib, the vaccination of homeless people should not be left to the regions alone, the mayor considers this a failure. Prague vaccinates homeless people with a one-time Johnson & Johnson vaccine in shelters and pays for the vaccines on its own.
City data show that so far over 58 percent of people in Prague have received the second dose of the vaccine. “We estimate that in the 80 plus age category, vaccination coverage is 95 percent, a result comparable to the United Kingdom,” John said.