COVID-19 cases are rapidly rising in the Czech Republic as well as other parts of Eastern Europe “The Czech Republic will start building capacity for COVID-19 patients outside of hospitals, government officials said on Thursday, as the country battles the fastest rate of infections in Europe... COVID-19 infections have nearly doubled in October alone to a total so far of 139,290 in a country with a population of 10.7 million. The Health Ministry reported 9,544 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, its highest one-day tally so far. Prime Minister Andrej Babis told reporters it was necessary to start building extra capacity and that the state would purchase 4,000 beds from hospital and nursing bed maker LINET. "We don't have time, the outlook is not good. These numbers are catastrophic," Babis said.”