Pictures shared online showed Milos Zeman greeting Petr Fiala from inside a cubicle during a ceremony at his residence near Prague on Sunday, November 28.

Mr Zeman, 77, who was wheeled in by a medic in full protective gear, caught Covid during a six-week stay in intensive care for unrelated issues.

Mr Fiala, 57, who leads a bloc of five centre and centre-right opposition parties that won an election in October, has called on people in the Czech Republic to get vaccinated.

The new government will have to tackle a new wave of Covid infections that is threatening to overwhelm hospitals and an energy crisis, after the collapse of a large electricity provider.

Mr Fiala, who expects his cabinet to be appointed in mid-December, said: “The new government has a very complicated time ahead and many challenges… I want it to be a government of change for the future.”