Threat threshold set by Veryga has been exceeded: Lithuania is on the threshold of restrictions

It is true that, until now, the representatives of the Ministry of Health (SAM) have so far abstained from commenting and promise to provide all the information in a subsequent press conference.

The limit has been exceeded

The Minister of Health, Aurelijus Veryga, Head of State Emergency Operations, has indicated that the provision of scheduled services should be restricted if the two-week morbidity rate in Lithuania is 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and in a particular municipality – 100. This was confirmed by Lina Bušinskaitė, Advisor to the Minister of Health.

Lithuania has already crossed this line. According to data published by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Monday afternoon, the two-week morbidity rate in Lithuania has already reached 51.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and in Raseiniai, for example, it is already 998 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants.

At a press conference on Monday, Health Minister A. Veryga said: “Such circumstances can arise when it is necessary to restrict the provision of scheduled services. No one plans to completely abandon them as there are some that are really needed. But it can happen, because the outbreaks are very large, it may be necessary to suspend some services for a time. “

The number of patients in hospitals is increasing

On Friday, the minister also named another criterion that would mean scheduled services will be restricted. This is the bed occupancy rate for coronavirus treatment.

According to the latest data from the SAM from October 5, there are currently 156 coronavirus-infected patients in hospitals, and last Friday there were 139 fewer patients. beds for coronavirus.

According to A. Veryga on Friday, Lithuania has planned that the largest number of occupied beds allocated for the treatment of the coronavirus can be occupied in hospitals by 70%.

“It just came to our notice then. We have 139 cases of hospitalized patients. Most of them, more precisely half of them, are from the Šiauliai region. We can see an increase in the number of patients needing oxygen therapy. But the The number of people in resuscitation, and especially those who need pulmonary ventilation, is not growing dramatically. The number of oxygen therapy procedures can be explained by the fact that doctors themselves use them more actively, sometimes as a kind of preventive measure to avoid greater consequences ”, said this Friday the head of the SAM.

The total number of beds currently occupied in the hospital is 10 thousand. 955 of 16 thousand. 797.

The resuscitation and intensive care units have a total of 354 patients. This means that more than half of the 621 beds are occupied. In resuscitation and intensive care units confirmed by coronavirus contain 11.

There are 172 patients on artificial lung ventilation, including 5 with COVID-19 disease. There are a total of 553 beds of this type.

There are 5,292 oxygen beds in Lithuania, 2,071 occupied, of which 58, with COVID-19 disease.

The prospect is not rewarding

Monday portal Delphi Representatives of the outpatient clinics interviewed said that they were ready to return to work in quarantine mode, when the provision of scheduled services would be restricted, but this prospect is not encouraging, since many dissatisfied patients would remain and delaying services would hinder the good results of the treatment.

Currently, there are no particularly long queues at polyclinics. Only those who want to get vaccinated against the flu apply more than usual.

Experts disagree on whether it would be appropriate to restrict planned treatment services again. Professor Aurelija Žvirblienė, head of the Department of Immunology and Cell Biology at the Institute of Biotechnology at Vilnius University, studying the prevalence of coronavirus with other scientists, did not dare to comment on whether it would be appropriate to restrict treatment services again now.

“Only as a citizen can I say that this restriction of services is a stick with two extremes. We know how bad it is when people don’t get the help they need, illnesses are neglected. This, of course, is wrong.

But it is also possible to understand the doctors who have a higher risk of infection and perhaps first we should think about the protection of these doctors so that they do not lack protection measures and the flows are regulated ”, commented A. Žvirblienė.

Still, the researcher noted: any contact restriction helps stop the virus. He just doubted that medical institutions should enforce the restrictions.

“The biggest risk factors for the spread of the virus have to be calculated. Any restriction really helps, that’s what we saw in the spring. The only question is if anyone would want those restrictions now. The risk factors that contribute the most to the spread of the virus. viruses must be very well thought out and identified ”, pointed out A. Žvirblienė.

The virus has mutated

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is no longer as mysterious to scientists as it was at the beginning of the year, as soon as it began to spread. There is much more knowledge about it.

Professor A. Žvirblienė is one of the scientists studying this virus. Last week, she and other scientists completed an investigation into the coronavirus genome and determined which virus is currently circulating in Lithuania.

“We see that now, as elsewhere in Europe, a slightly different variant of the virus is spreading than in China. It is supposed to be more contagious because a single altered amino acid in that protein interacts with a cellular receptor, that is, a mutation in the structure of the protein S of the viral surface, which enhances its interaction with that cell receptor. Therefore, this variant is considered to be more contagious and spreads more easily. That is what we see all over the world ” said the professor.

According to the professor, the fact that there is a cold season, the end of the summer holidays and the return of adults to work and children to educational and educational institutions is very important for the further spread of the virus.

It is true that there is no clear evidence that the mutated virus is less virulent, and the main reason that fewer people infected with it become more severe and end up in treatment facilities is probably that the contingent of patients has changed dramatically.

“Now there are significantly more young people who are at less risk of contracting the virus, and the risk of complications and serious illness is lower. In old age, that risk increases several times,” said A. Žvirblienė.

Why are there fewer cases in the Baltic countries?

When asked why the incidence of coronavirus in the Baltic countries, although significantly higher than in the spring, is still lower than in some countries in Western and Southern Europe, the professor said: “I think that small countries with low density have advantages.

Our epidemiologists are really working and trying to track those cases. Localized chimneys. In countries where the virus spreads uncontrollably, it spreads throughout the population. There, no one tries to track too many chimneys anymore, because it is simply impossible to do so.

Lithuania and other Baltic countries are small, here the population density is low, it is possible to locate chimneys. This helps us prevent massive spread in the population. And tested with us on purpose, a lot. It helps track those cases. “

A. Žvirblienė assured: the masks really protect against the virus if other people cough, sneeze and pour a lot of drops into the environment. And the most important thing is to keep a safe distance.