Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis looks set to dismiss his health minister for holding a meeting in a restaurant closed under government coronavirus restrictions after the minister refused to resign over the incident.
Tabloid paper Blesk on Friday published pictures of Health Minister Roman Prymula leaving a restaurant late at night and entering a car without a face mask, both an apparent violation of rules that closed restaurants and required wearing masks in most places including chauffeured cars.
"When our medical staff are fighting on the front line to save lives of our fellow citizens, such a thing is absolutely inexcusable," Babis told reporters in reaction to the Blesk story.
"We cannot preach water and drink wine."
But Mr Prymula, in a midday briefing, refused to heed the prime minister's call, saying his meeting with two other officials was held in a private room and he wore a mask once in the car.
The scandal comes as the Czech government struggles to slow Europe's fastest growth in coronavirus cases that has raised fears strained hospitals could buckle under the pressure.
Mr Prymula, 56, is an epidemiologist and a reserve army colonel who was called up by Babis to help manage the deteriorating COVID-19 situation just a month ago.
The country of 10.7 million reported its second-highest daily tally of cases, at 14,151, for Thursday and a total of 1845 deaths including a daily record 113 on Wednesday.
The government has faced criticism for easing most restrictions at the start of summer and then acting too slowly to reimpose them as cases started to spike in the fall. Meanwhile, the public has been less willing than in the spring to follow distancing and mask-wearing rules.
