The Czech Republic reported 20,315 new coronavirus cases for Friday, the first week-on-week drop in the daily tally in two months, although its hospitals were still filling and the government toughened restrictions.
On the same day last week, the country of 10.7 million people reported 22,957 new cases of the coronavirus.
Although hospitalisations dropped to 6,169 on Friday compared to the previous day, the number of people treated in hospitals has doubled over the past three weeks and some stopped non-urgent procedures.
The Czech government ordered bars and clubs to close at 10 p.m. as of Friday and banned Christmas markets in an attempt to stem one of the world's highest infection rates.
(Reporting by Robert Muller; Editing by Alexander Smith)
