PRAGUE, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Czech Republic have surpassed four million since the virus was first detected here in the spring of 2020, according to data published by the Ministry of Health on Tuesday.
The country's first confirmed cases were reported on March 1, 2020 and have since risen to 4,002,616 -- with 2,958 new cases being recorded on Monday. The total number does not include reinfections, said the ministry.
Experts believe the actual data to be higher, given the widespread availability of at-home tests whose results are not directly reported to health authorities.
Since the virus was first detected in the Czech Republic, 40,587 have succumbed to it. Previously published data by the Czech Statistical Office (CSU) revealed that COVID-19 was "the most common cause of death" in 2021, having claimed almost 25,500 lives, representing 18 percent of the deaths last year.
Last month, the country started to administer a second booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to all people aged over 18. Nearly 6.9 million people in the Czech Republic, with a total population of about 10.5 million, have been fully vaccinated. ■
