Czech singer dies after being deliberately infected with Covid-19 | Coronavirus what you need to know

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Horka’s son Jan Rek said that he and his father were double vaccinated, but still became infected with the virus. His mother, who had not been vaccinated herself, had decided not to stay away from them and preferred to expose herself to the virus so she could get a recovery pass to access certain locations. “She should have been isolated for a week because we tested positive. But she was with us the whole time,” he says.

In the Czech Republic, proof of vaccination or recent infection with the virus is required to access many social and cultural venues, including cinemas, bars and cafes.

Horka was a member of Asonance, one of the oldest Czech folk groups. Two days before she died, she wrote on social media that she was recovering: “Now there will be theater, sauna, a concert”.

Sunday morning, the day she died, Horka said she was feeling better and would get dressed and go for a walk. But then her back started to hurt, and she returned to her bedroom. “It was all over in about 10 minutes,” her son says. “She suffocated.”

His mother didn’t believe in some of the more outlandish conspiracy theories about corona vaccines, Jan Rek said. “Her philosophy was that she felt better about contracting Covid than about being vaccinated. Not that we would be microchipped or anything like that,” he says.

The man now hopes that by telling his story he can convince others to get vaccinated. “Having real life examples is more powerful than just graphs and numbers. You can’t really empathize with numbers.”

The Czech Republic reported a record number of Covid-19 infections on Wednesday.

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