PRAGUE — The Czech government is asking the Parliament to approve its plan to extend a state of emergency it declared a month.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis says the measure is needed “to protect the health and lives of the citizens.” The Parliament is expected to take a vote on the request to extend the state of emergency until Dec 3.
The rolling average of daily cases has risen in the past two weeks from 48 per 100,000 people on Oct. 12 to 115 on Monday.
Starting on Wednesday, the government is imposing more regulations, including nationwide curfew from 9 p.m. – 5 a.m. All stores must close on Sundays. Employees in state and private companies are recommended to work from home. The government says it won’t reopen elementary schools as planned on Monday because the rising infections.
The Czech Republic has 268,370 cases, about a third registered in the last week. There are 5,613 COVID-19 patients hospitalized.
The nation recorded 2,365 deaths since March, with 748 confirmed in the last week.