Czech Republic overtakes Spain as most COVID cases per capita in the EU

Prague, Czech Republic – A gruesome milestone: as of Thursday, the Czech Republic officially overtook Spain as the EU country with the highest number of COVID-19 cases per capita, official data reveals.

Czech Republic has most COVID-19 cases per capita among EU states

According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), one of the main EU bodies monitoring the coronavirus pandemic, the Czech Republic has the highest 14-day COVID infection rate in Europe.

Following a record-high increase of more than 5,300 cases on Wednesday, the Czech Republic’s total tally of infections since March exceeded 95,000 infections, reaching 375 cases per 100,000 people over the past 14 days – the single highest rate of infection in Europe. 829 people have died from the disease in the country since the start of the epidemic.

The Czech Republic thus overtook Spain, which reported 303 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the last 14 days. The other hardest-hit EU countries, according to ECDC figures, are the Netherlands (285 / 100,000), France (257), Belgium (246) and the UK (202).

State of emergency introduced in the Czech Republic

The Czech government declared a state of emergency on Monday, October 5, and plans to introduce tougher measures to contain the spread of the virus. Despite the skyrocketing rise in cases, authorities have for now dismissed moves to introduce a national lockdown.

As of October 8, nearly 3,8 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Europe since the start of the pandemic, while more than 193,000 people have died from the disease throughout the continent.