ROB CAMERON

Life in the Czech Republic is slowly returning to normal after lockdowns introduced at the beginning of the pandemic. On Monday, many children were back in school classrooms and swimming pools, zoos and castles were reopened.But the major milestone for a nation of beer-drinkers is that from now on, restaurants, bars and pubs can once again serve people indoors.

Visits from British partygoers and other tourists were an early casualty of the coronavirus pandemic for the Slovak capital Bratislava – and now it is struggling to claw back its depleted industry. Slovakia was praised for its swift and decisive response to the virus – which included shutting its borders to tourists – but it has come at a price.

Initially praised for its Covid response – including a cottage industry sewing hundreds of thousands of homemade face masks – by autumn 2020 the Czech Republic had some of the worst infection and mortality statistics in the world. In November, the Czech Army was called in to transform an exhibition grounds on the northern outskirts of Prague into a field hospital.

Governments everywhere are struggling to vaccinate their citizens against Covid, partly due to public resistance and disinformation. Czech anti-vaxxers made international headlines by wearing yellow Stars of David. The message was clear: those who refuse the Covid vaccine will be ostracised just as Jews were in the years leading up to the Holocaust.

Czech authorities have pleaded with people to respect Covid restrictions over Easter. The plan is for children to go back to school in a week’s time, but they say that could be jeopardised if people mingle now in big numbers. The infection numbers are now falling, albeit slowly. The country is no longer at the very apex of the European charts. But it’s not far behind.

Slovakia was the second country in the EU to order Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine – but the decision caused political turmoil as the mercurial prime minister Igor Matovič flew to Moscow to make the purchase without informing anyone. Slovakia’s medicines regulator refused to certify the vaccine – which was not approved in the EU – so supplies of Sputnik sat unused on the shelves.

One of the more bewildering aspects of the Covid crisis in the Czech Republic is the hostility and aggression directed at health workers. But it is a problem that existed before the pandemic, and is unlikely to end with it. “A year ago people were applauding health workers. Now they’re cursing them,” said Dr Milan Kubek, head of the Czech Medical Chamber.

Whooping cough is on the rise across Europe, and the Czech Republic is no exception. However, a week marked by confusion surrounding official guidance and a controversial public appearance by Prague’s mayor left some wondering if anything was learned from Covid-19. By the end of 2024, the number of infections had risen tenfold to 36,000.