Zeman has left the hospital and wants to appoint Fiala on Sunday
Updates: 11/27/2021 11:48 PM
Released: 27.11.2021, 15:37
Prague – President Miloš Zeman left the Central Military Hospital (ÚVN) in Prague today at 3.30 pm, where he was transferred from the castle in Lány on Thursday evening after the covid-19 infection was discovered. According to a ČTK correspondent, an ambulance took the president on the spot. The president stayed in the hospital without symptoms of illness for two nights, and medics gave him infusions with monoclonal antibodies. At the chateau in Lány on Sunday, he will appoint the ODS chairman Petr Fiala as the new prime minister. The President’s Chancellor Vratislav Mynář told ČTK tonight that Zeman had agreed to the appointment.
The president returned to Lány on Thursday after a hospitalization lasting from October 10. He spent only a few hours at the president’s residence and was again transferred to the Central Office. Zeman originally wanted to appoint Fiala as the new prime minister on Friday at the castle in Lány. However, due to the infection, he suspended his program, so the appointment is newly scheduled for Sunday. However, the president must be isolated due to a positive test, the form of the ceremony was not clear, Mynář was to consult with the president today. In the evening, the Chancellor told ČTK without further details that Zeman had already approved the form of the appointment. ODS spokesman Václav Smolka subsequently told ČTK that the castle office assured the ODS in the evening that the appointment would comply with hygienic measures.
Three sources from the President’s Office for the server iROZHLAS.cz late tonight they confirmed that the head of state of Fial appoints a plexiglass in one room. According to them, the appointment of the prime minister is being prepared in the room to which the two entrances lead. Instead of one door, however, according to the castle sources, there will be temporary plexiglass walls. This will create a separate transparent niche that will allow Zeman to see Violet, but at the same time there will be no closer contact between the two states. For example, they do not shake hands or hand over any deeds. The president will be behind the plexiglass in one room together with Fiala, the castle chancellor Vratislav Mynář and the protocol director Vladimír Kruliš.
Therefore, according to the server, Zeman signed an appointment decree on Saturday, which now has to be disinfected. He will be exposed to ultraviolet radiation in order to eliminate any remnants of the virus, Radiožurnál informed. On Sunday, Fiala will also sign the documents, in the presence of Mynár and Kruliš. According to the president’s adviser and epidemiologist Roman Prymula, who is suitable for everyone’s preparation, the ceremony will be attended by as few people as possible and will be tested for coronavirus.
Chief Hygienist Pavla Svrčinová announced on Friday that strict quarantine measures also apply to the head of state. Everyone infected with coronavirus must remain in isolation for 14 days. According to the resigned Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch (for YES), therefore, Fiala cannot be appointed in personal contact with Zeman.
Svrčinová said today that Zeman and Fiala should be in separate rooms during the ceremony or there could be a complete glass barrier between them. They could talk to each other, for example, using microphones, she told Czech Television (ČT) today. According to Svrčinová, the insulation provided by ÚVN allows only family members or paramedics to be in direct contact with Zeman. Svrčinová added the form of the appointment ceremony with the chief hygienist to the head of the Central Bohemian Hygiene Station, who received a request from the presidential office with which she is dealing with the matter.
“We have been told that no exceptions to isolation are possible,” Dana Pralamunová, a spokeswoman for Central Bohemian hygienists, told TV Prima today about a request for information addressed to the hygienists and the presidential office. According to a spokeswoman, the Central Bohemian hygienist provided Prague Castle on Friday.
The chairman of the Civic Democrats and the leader of the Spolu coalition (ODS, TOP 09 and KDU-ČSL) Fiala would also like to agree with the president on a clear schedule for the appointment of the entire cabinet. He expects that the government of the coalition of Together and the Pirates with STAN should take control of the country in mid-December at the latest. The president has been planning a series of meetings with candidates for the ministry since Monday, but this will complicate his isolation. Nevertheless, he had once again negotiated with Fiala in the form of a video conference.
Zeman will be cared for again by Senior Home Group in Lány, which began providing health care for the president after his release from ÚVN on Thursday. According to a member of its management and doctor Boris Šťastný, the company requested a Zeman test for coronavirus on Thursday due to the president’s contact with the infected person.