PRAGUE, July 15 (Xinhua) -- The Czech Republic will start administering a second booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from July 18, the country's health ministry announced on Friday.
The second booster dose will be available to all people over the age of 18, the ministry said in a statement. The ministry also recommended it especially to people aged over 60 and younger high-risk patients.
According to the statement, jab-seekers can get a second booster dose from Monday at vaccination sites without registration, if more than four months have passed since their last vaccination.
Currently, there are more than 350 active vaccination sites across the country.
The ministry added that the registration system with reservation of time slots will be operating from Aug. 15. "Until then, we recommend vaccination for risk groups, citizens over 60 and then for people without health problems."
The ministry also recommended the use of face masks in medical and social facilities, in public transport and places with a large concentration of people.
Daily COVID-19 infections in the Czech Republic started to rise at the end of June mainly due to the more contagious Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.
On Monday, the country recorded more than 2,000 new cases for the first time since late April. COVID-19 hospitalizations also continued to rise, reaching 413 on Thursday, compared with 315 a week ago.
The health ministry said Friday that the current epidemic situation does not cause a burden on hospitals and the health system, but said it is "ready to respond promptly to any change in the situation."
The Czech Republic has recorded more than 3.9 million COVID-19 cases and 40,346 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic. Nearly 6.9 million people in the country, which has a population of about 10.5 million, have been fully vaccinated, according to the official data.
