BBC Online :
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 has left some wondering if anything was learned from Covid-19.
In the first week of January, say the Czech authorities, there were 28 registered cases of whooping cough.
That figure now stands at 3,084 – a number not seen since 1963.
Sufferers include the 80-year-old mayor of Prague, Bohuslav Svoboda, who is an MP as well as an eminent gynaecologist.
Coughing and spluttering his way through a parliamentary health committee meeting, a clearly irritated Dr Svoboda questioned why he had to be there in the first place.
He said he was recovering from whooping cough, but was on day six of an antibiotic course “so I’m no longer infectious… or at least that’s what they taught me at school”.
