PRAGUE, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Czech Republic has recorded more than 10,000 cases of whooping cough, or pertussis, since the beginning of this year, authorities said on Thursday.
Speaking at a press conference, State Health Institute (SZU) director Barbora Mackova said the country has seen a "steady trend" of whooping cough cases. So far this week, the SZU has registered 956 new cases, bringing the yearly total to 10,326.
The Czech Republic has reported rising whooping cough cases since the start of the year, with weekly cases surpassing 1,000 for five weeks in a row since March 18. Last week, the SZU recorded 1,476 new cases.
Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory disease. Local media say that the central European country of 10.9 million people is experiencing the severest outbreak since the 1960s.
According to the SZU data, about one-third of cases were young people aged 15 to 19, while 208 cases were hospitalized by the end of last week. Three infected people have died this year. ■