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Pandemic restrictions in the Czech Republic have done the unthinkable: Residents there are now drinking less beer.
But average consumption dropped by nearly 7 percent last year due to virus-related curbs that shuttered most bars and restaurants, according to the Czech brewers association.
The rate now — 135 liters of “pivo” per person in 2020 — is the lowest in the country since the 1960s.
“I have never experienced such a situation,” local media quoted association chairman Frantisek Samal as saying.
According to Samal and his colleagues, production and exports are also down, after nine years of growth. About 500 pubs have also permanently closed, with authorities banning alcohol consumption in public places, hurting industry sales.
Martina Ferencova, the association’s executive director, told local media the government should allow pubs to serve alcohol in open gardens.
Czech beer is famously cheap — and good. It’s often served in half-liter mugs.
“It could save many pubs,” Ferencova said. “People need to meet.”
The country appears to be emerging from a particularly deadly wave of infections last month, spurred by a more contagious virus variant first identified in Britain. It also suffered outbreaks in October and January.
Authorities there have reported 1.6 million cases and more than 28,000 deaths. Earlier this year, the Czech Republic had the highest covid-19 death rate per capita in the world.
