Czech President Milos Zeman will replace his health minister who was caught violating anti-coronavirus restrictions, the president's spokesman said Tuesday. Roman Prymula was caught last week by a a tabloid photographer leaving a restaurant that should have been closed under rules aimed at stemming the spread of the virus. With 270,000 Covid-19 cases and 2,400 deaths since March, the country leads other EU states in terms of new deaths and cases per 100,000 inhabitants. On Thursday, Zeman will appoint Jan Blatny as the new health minister, spokesman Jiri Ovcacek said in a tweet. Blatny is a pediatric hematologist and deputy head of a hospital in Brno, the second biggest Czech city. He has no previous political experience. Prymula, a trained epidemiologist, was appointed health minister in September as coronavirus infections began to soar. frj/mas/wai