New lockdown measures implemented in Czech Republic

New lockdown measures have been implemented in The Czech Republic, which is battling the world's worst surge in COVID-19 infections.

To confine people mostly to their home districts, the government has deployed more police officers and soldiers yesterday and approved mandatory COVID tests for companies with at least 50 employees, in a move that aims to reach about 2 million workers in the next two



weeks.

 

New, more contagious variants of the virus have added to the latest surge, and a slow vaccine rollout is not helping. The death toll has doubled since mid-December to reach 20,469. The country of 10.7 million has recorded the highest per capita infection rate in the world over the last week, 11 times higher than neighbouring Germany.