Czech Republic: Asks from other countries to assist in the treatment of patients with Covid

The Czech Republic has asked Germany, Switzerland and Poland to take dozens of patients with COVID-19 as the situation in its hospitals has reached a critical point, the health ministry said today.

The country of 10,7 million people is one of the hardest hit in the world in recent weeks as many regional hospitals, faced with a large influx of coronavirus patients, have had to move them elsewhere, in some cases even hundreds of miles away.

"The large number of patients who have recently become infected has intensified the pressure on the health system and the number of patients in need of hospitalization is increasing," the ministry said in a statement.

As of this morning, 8.153 patients with COVID were being treated, including 1.735 in intensive care units, according to the Ministry of Health.

"In some areas, hospitals are exhausted and can no longer provide adequate care or accept new patients without the help of others," Health Minister Jan Blatny said in a statement.

Nationwide, 13% of the total capacity of intensive care units is available, while in the capital Prague, availability is 5%.

Neighboring Slovakia transported its first coronavirus patients abroad this week as its hospitals are full of COVID-19 patients.

Source: RES-EAP