PRAGUE – A record surge of new coronavirus infections in the Czech Republic in September has been followed by a record number of virus patients being hospitalized, putting the nation's health care system under serious pressure for the first time in the pandemic.After relaxing almost all virus restrictions in the summer, the Czech government has responded to the new spike by declaring a state of emergency on Wednesday.
That has been accompanied by strict restrictions ranging from limiting public events to a ban on singing at churches and schools.The Czech Republic faced a record surge of new COVID-19 cases two weeks ago with more than 3,000 testing positive in one day.