PRAGUE, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Czech Republic reported 3,493 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in a 24-hour span, which is the highest daily figure since the pandemic began, health authorities said on Friday.
Since September, the country has seen the number of daily reported cases soar exponentially. The overall number of COVID-19 cases in the Czech Republic now stands at 74,255, with 1,028 people currently in hospital and 678 deaths.
On Wednesday, the Czech government approved another 30-day state of emergency to help manage the situation. The state of emergency will begin on Oct. 5 and will be accompanied by several restrictive measures, including the closure of at-risk secondary schools and various limits on large-scale events.
As the world is struggling to control the pandemic, countries across the globe -- among them European Union member states, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- are racing to find a vaccine.
According to the website of the World Health Organization, as of Sept. 30, there were 192 COVID-19 candidate vaccines being developed worldwide, and 41 of them were in clinical trials. Enditem
