There were nearly 15,000 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in the Czech Republic on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Czech Republic recorded over 100 deaths from coronavirus in a single day for the first time. Several allied states have already promised help. The government has approved the deployment of NATO and EU military medics in Czech hospitals, which must now be approved by Parliament. Title photo: Field hospital in Prague, Letnany via Ministry of Defense on Twitter.
Czech Rep., Oct 23 (BD) – “In order to be able to quickly implement assistance from our allies, if necessary, the government today approved the presence of up to 300 military doctors and medics from NATO and EU countries in the Czech Republic for up to 90 days,” said Czech Defense Minister Lubomir Metnar on Thuursday.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will send the Czech Republic 60 lung ventilators, which are crucial for the pandemic response as 52.1% of the total 1,932 ventilators are currently already in use, according to Czech news website Novinky.cz.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged that the Czech Republic “is going through hard times”, as the number of coronavirus cases is rising. Von der Leyen said that Czech hospitals are in need of medical equipment and “the EU is here to help.”
Von der Leyen added that she had called Andrej Babis to tell him that the Commission will rapidly be dispatching an initial delivery of 30 ventilators from the “RescEU” reserve, promising that “more support will come.”
Předsedkyně komise @vonderleyen mi před chvílí osobně zavolala, že @EU_Commission nám kvůli naší aktuální situaci v boji s covid-19 obratem dodá 30 ventilátorů z krizových skladů EU, a že nás propojí s ostatními státy EU, které nám nabídnou své volné kapacity. pic.twitter.com/jsQQAmwrRn
— Andrej Babiš (@AndrejBabis) October 22, 2020
The US National Guard in Texas and Nebraska will send doctors with their own equipment. The arrival of four seven-member US teams is scheduled for next week. Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Jan Hamacek (CSSD), agreed on the help of medical staff from Texas and Nebraska with the US Ambassador Stephen B. King, as first reported by iROZHLAS.cz news website on Wednesday. “This afternoon [Wednesday] I spoke with Prime Minister Andrej Babis about the Czech Republic’s fight against COVID-19. We agreed on a visit of U.S. military medical personnel with experience responding to coronavirus from the Nebraska and Texas National Guard to assist in this effort,” said King.
US military medics will be deployed in hospitals where there is a shortage of personnel. When the field hospital in Prague’s Letnany comes into operation, they will be deployed to help there, according to Novinky.cz.
According to Thursday’s CVVM agency opinion poll, 75% of Czechs now trust the Czech Army, 6% more than in September last year. The army has been assisting during the coronavirus crisis in medical and testing facilities, and soldiers are now building the auxiliary field hospital in Prague-Letnany.
