The Czech Health Minister Adam Vojtech has announced that face masks will be mandatory everywhere indoors from Thursday, after a record 1,164 new cases were reported on Tuesday.
Masks had been mandatory in shops and shopping centres from today - that will now be extended to all enclosed spaces from tomorrow. Details will be announced during the day. They have been mandatory on public transport since Sep 1.
Only five countries in Europe - Spain, France, Romania, Croatia and Malta - currently have more new cases per 100,000 over 14 days than the Czech Republic. The figures for neighbouring Germany, Austria, Poland and Slovakia are considerably lower.
Czech authorities say most cases are younger and asymptomatic patients, but the risk of community spread to older and more vulnerable people is a threat.
The country has also been criticised by the WHO for mulling the scaling back of testing and tracing contacts of positive cases, although details of any such moves have not yet been announced.