Covid-hit Czech President To Name New PM On Sunday

Prague, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Nov, 2021 ) :Covid-struck Czech President Milos Zeman will leave hospital on Saturday and name centre-right leader Petr Fiala as the new prime minister a day later, his spokesman said Friday.

The 77-year-old left-winger was originally hospitalised on October 10, a day after a general election, and treated for liver problems that doctors have suggested could be cirrhosis.

Zeman was released from Prague's Military University Hospital (UVN) on Thursday morning, but had to return after testing positive for Covid-19 in the afternoon.

He was due to appoint Fiala on Friday, but his return to hospital ruled that out.

"President Milos Zeman will be released from the UVN to (his residence at) the Lany chateau on Saturday," Zeman's spokesman Jiri Ovcacek said.

He "will appoint Petr Fiala as prime minister at 11:00 (1000 GMT) on Sunday, observing the valid hygienic-epidemiological measures".

Czech health ministry rules say everyone who tests positive should isolate for 14 days.

Fiala told reporters he would discuss the future government with Zeman at Lany on Sunday, but said a decision on the exact shape of the meeting, including protective measures, has yet to be made.

The UVN said Zeman, who had received three doses of a Covid vaccine, showed no symptoms.

He was tested after coming into contact with someone with the virus.

Fiala is the chairman of the right-wing Civic Democratic Party, which teamed up with the centrist Christian Democrats and the centre-right TOP 09 party to form the Together alliance that won the election.

The alliance narrowly defeated the populist ANO movement of outgoing billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis.

It then joined forces with a centrist grouping of the Mayors and Independents and the Pirate Party to clinch a majority of 108 votes in the 200-seat parliament.

The five parties formed a government while Zeman, who would normally have mediated the post-election talks, was in hospital.

Zeman, who is to name the prime minister and then the government, said he had a problem with one person in Fiala's proposed cabinet, raising concerns that he may delay the process.

The EU member of 10.7 million people registered a record 27,717 new Covid-19 infections on Thursday -- including Zeman -- and pundits say the next government should be named fast to tackle the crisis.

Some hospitals running out of capacity have begun to move patients to less congested facilities and delayed scheduled surgeries.