Covid: unvaccinated folk singer dies aged 57 after deliberately catching virus as she wanted health pass

An unvaccinated Czech folk singer has died after purposely catching Covid-19.

Hana Horka passed away at the age of 57 after catching the virus.

Her son Jan Rek, said she got infected on purpose when he and his father had the virus, so she could get a recovery pass to access certain venues.

In the Czech Republic proof of vaccination or a recent infection is required to access cultural and sports facilities as well as for travel and for visiting bars and restaurants. The country is currently experiencing a spike in Covid cases.

Her son Jan told the BBC: “She should have isolated for a week because we tested positive. But she was with us the whole time.”

On the day she died, Ms Horka said she was feeling better and got dressed to go for a walk, however, her back started hurting and she went to lie down.

Singer ‘choked to death’

Mr Rek said his mother “choked to death” and that “in about 10 minutes it was all over.”

Ms Horka who was a singer with folk band Asonance which mainly plays Scottish and Irish music, had posted on her social media just two days prior to her death on 16 January saying she was recovering from the virus.

In a Facebook post on 14 January she had said she had “survived the lost Delta” and added there would be “there will be theater, sauna, theater, concert, sauna.”

The poignant final line of her post said: “Life is here for me and for you too.”

Although she was unvaccinated, her son said his mother did not believe in some of the more bizarre conspiracy theories about Covid vaccines.

He told the BBC: “Her philosophy was that she was more OK with the idea of catching Covid than getting vaccinated. Not that we would get microchipped or anything like that.”

He also said he hoped by telling his story he could convince others to get vaccinated, and said: “If you have living examples from real life, it’s more powerful than just graphs and numbers. You can’t really sympathise with numbers.”

On the Asonance website Ms Horka’s death was marked with a picture of the singer, who joined the band in 1985, with a line underneath saying: “Some reports don’t want to be believed. But we will have to.”

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. NationalWorld is a new national news brand, produced by a team of journalists, editors, video producers and designers who live and work across the UK. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going. You can also sign up to our email newsletters and get a curated selection of our best reads to your inbox every day.