The Czech President is sworn in in Petr Viala, behind a glass partition | Czech Republic

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The Czech President, Milos Zeman, appointed the leader of the centre-right coalition, Petr Fiala, as prime minister at a ceremony he performed from a glass booth after he tested positive for Covid-19.

Fiala leads a bloc of five center-right opposition parties that won elections in October, ousting incumbent President Andrej Babis and his allies.

The election took place shortly after details of Babes’ offshore financial transactions appeared in the Pandora Papers. The 67-year-old populist billionaire has denied any wrongdoing.

The new government will have to tackle a wave of coronavirus infections that threatens to flood hospitals and an energy crisis, after a major electricity supplier collapsed. The coalition also said it plans to rewrite the country’s 2022 budget to reduce a large deficit.

“The new government has a very complicated time and many challenges… I want it to be a government of change for the future,” Fiala said in a televised press conference, adding that he expects to form his government in mid-December.

The new prime minister also called on people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and praised the medical staff amid the surge in cases.

Only 58.5% of Czechs are vaccinated against coronavirus. The EU average is 65.8%, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

Zeman performed the opening ceremony from a glass room after he tested positive for the coronavirus. Zeman, who came in a wheelchair accompanied by a paramedic in full protective gear, contracted the virus after a six-week stay in hospital with an unrelated illness.

The outgoing government tightened its measures on Thursday, including banning Christmas markets.

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