Veryga: record-setting municipalities must take immediate action

“We are very hopeful that municipalities where the number of cases is high will take immediate action,” Veryga said.

Hospitals or care centers cannot be closed

Asked by reporters during a press conference how to determine which sectors are the most risky and whether the decision on what to close is not related to the elections, the minister replied: “You rightly mentioned that there are health facilities or health centers. Be careful where the virus spreads. But we do not have the possibility to close these institutions or limit their opening hours. Those institutions should provide assistance to patients, provide treatment services. There are measures that have been in place for a long time to control infections.

At a time when we talk about other places where people gather to have fun, the logic is very simple. If someone needs special evidence, it means we wait until such time as we identify very large chimneys.

I would invite those who have questions about whether it is possible to get infected with protective gear to go visit such a nightclub and make sure the distances are not really kept there, you will find a lot of people not wearing personal protective gear. You don’t need to link it to any choice or the possibility of banning something that is more convenient. “

Veryga has urged municipalities to now think about where workers would come from if a coronavirus spreads in a care or treatment center. The minister also asked the event organizers, now that the incidence of coronavirus is on the rise, to be aware rather than waiting for instructions to do so come from above.

“Nothing prevents anyone from banning the events,” said the minister.

It is not considered a national quarantine

Veryga said the national quarantine has not yet been considered, but local quarantine is likely to be introduced in individual cities, where the situation will be particularly bad.

“So far, I have not heard other scientists recommend that the quarantine be introduced. <...> And countries that have scientific institutes also behave differently. This shows that it is not so easy to decide.

National quarantine is not currently being considered. Of course, such a possibility should not be completely ruled out. As for the cities, it will all depend on the situation, because if any city reaches the level it had with Raseiniai, it will definitely offer to post quarantine. It doesn’t matter what kind of city it is, be it Vilnius, Kaunas or anywhere else in Lithuania, ”said the head of SAM.

When asked what the morbidity should be when restricted events begin, A. Veryga said: “There is no agreed criterion [kada riboti renginius]because it doesn’t just depend on the cases. There is a burden observed in health institutions, a general epidemiological situation, how many are the critical points, how much are located, how much are not located. There is no single figure for the national quarantine. “

He called Vilnius a kind of exception

According to the minister, SAM’s strategy at this time is to apply local measures to manage the pandemic, and to be effective they must be agreed with the municipalities.

“It just came to our attention then. Perhaps Vilnius is now a kind of exception in which we try to argue. But we hope that this does not turn into a conflicting pre-election discussion and defeat the rational mind,” the minister said.

When asked if the obligation to measure temperature would not be reintroduced, the minister replied that the measure had been revoked after criticism from universities that it was not possible for students to measure temperature.

“It is difficult for me to debate because it is possible to identify measures that can really be taken. But even now anyone can measure that temperature, health centers do it perfectly. Again, the question is whether to specify everything. We are not citizens of our own country; if there is no obligation or fine, it is not used. After all, we know those tools, let’s use them. <...> But let’s not get the illusion that in this way we will absolutely prevent all cases of infection, ”said A. Veryga.

Group test plans

According to the minister, Lithuania is one of the countries with the highest activity: approximately 7,000 tests are carried out daily.

“We are awaiting the responses of scientists regarding group tests, when it will be possible to combine several samples into one and test them, which would allow to increase the scope of the tests very significantly. In addition, it would be difficult to increase the number of tests in group tests, ”said A. Veryga.

77 percent. infected from other people

According to Daiva Razmuvienė, chief epidemiologist specialist in the Communicable Disease Management Division of the National Center for Public Health (NVSC), 77 percent. (i.e. 217) people were infected by other people with whom they had interacted and for whom the coronavirus had already been confirmed.

“There would not have been such cases if they had not interacted with the confirmed people,” said the epidemiologist.

According to D. Razmuvienė, the largest chimneys are currently located in nursing homes and nursing homes, medical and educational institutions.

“But the main attention is paid to the Raseiniai Blinsturbiškės nursing home,” said the NVSC specialist.

“There is another new fireplace in the Marijampolė special care home. Yesterday 11 new cases were registered. In total, there are already 15 cases of infection, 80 percent. population. There is currently an investigation and there will probably be more cases, because samples have been taken from the entire population, “said the epidemiologist.

Currently, according to D. Razmuvienė, there are 212 educational institutions where cases of coronavirus have been diagnosed. There is a notable internal diffusion in 37 educational institutions.

Currently, 7 cases of coronavirus have been identified in the Kaunas Clinical Hospital, but it is not yet known if they are related.

D. Razmuvienė also drew attention to another phenomenon: “Since July, the incidence of children under 19 years of age has almost doubled. If it was 6% in July, it is now almost 12%. The percentage of older people is less than 20%. All other percentages of patients belong to people of working age. “

281 new cases of coronavirus were detected per day

The NVSC reported that 83 of the confirmed cases during the last day were recorded in Kaunas county, 69 in Vilnius, 38 in Klaipėda, 34 in Šiauliai, 26 in Telšiai, 14 in Marijampolė, 9 in Panevėžys, 7 in Tauragė and 1 in Utena counties.

After contact with people confirmed by coronavirus, an epidemiologist estimated that 217 people were infected. In addition, 10 import cases were recorded during the last day, of which 3 from France, 2 from Greece and 1 from Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden. At that time, 54 people did not identify the circumstances of the infection.

177 cases are associated with outbreaks

In Vilnius county, cases related to fireplaces in educational institutions were registered on the last day: 7 cases were related to Vilnius Martynas Mažvydas progymnasium, 5 – in the district of Švenčionys gym Pabradė “Žeimena”, 2 – in kindergarten “Žemyna” from Vilnius. It is estimated that 2 other cases are related to the Vilnius kindergarten “Gabijėlė”, as well as 2 – with Vilnius Northern Lyceum, 1 – with Vilnius Petras Vileišis Progymnasium.

At that time, cases of infection were also recorded in educational institutions operating in Kaunas County: 4 were associated with an outbreak in the Vaižgantas Progymnasium of Kaunas University of Technology, 3 – in the Kaunas Basketball School “Žalgiris “Another case is related to an outbreak at the” Saulės “Gym in Kaunas.

In Telšiai county, 11 cases are related to the outbreak at the Plungė Old Town School in Klaipėda county, 1 case was related to the outbreak at the Klaipėda Ernestas Galvanauskas vocational training center.

The last day there were also new cases of infections related to outbreaks in health and social care institutions.

35 cases of infection are associated with the Blinstrubiškės welfare home located in the Raseiniai district. All people are residents of these houses. A total of 145 cases related to this outbreak were registered: 44 workers, 92 residents and 9 secondary cases, that is, people close to the workers.

11 new cases of coronavirus are associated with the outbreak in the Marijampol especial special social care homes, of which 9 are residents and 2 employees. A total of 15 infections are estimated to be associated with the outbreak.

Another 2 COVID-19 cases are related to the Lioliai welfare home located in Kelmė district. Both individuals are employees. A total of 15 infections were recorded: 12 wards and 3 employees.

In addition, 7 cases were recorded on the last day that epidemiologists say are related to outbreaks in separate units of the Kaunas clinics. The cases are registered in the Departments of Gastroenterology, Surgery, Nephrology.

In addition, 4 cases in Vilnius are related to an outbreak at the Vilnius Republican University Hospital. A total of 6 related cases were registered.

5 cases are related to the outbreak at the Palanga Rehabilitation Hospital. There are currently an estimated 16 cases of infection associated with the outbreak.

Two cases were registered at the Kelmė District Child and Family Welfare Center, one at the Šiauliai City Municipality Child Care Home and at the Kuršėnai Children’s Family Home.

3 COVID-19 cases are related to the Kartena branch of the Kretinga Cultural Center, 3 more cases in Telšiai county are related to the rehearsal of one of the Plungė choirs, which took place on October 6.

The circumstances of the infection in 54 people are unclear.

To date, epidemiologists have not yet been able to determine the incidence of 54 individuals. Epidemiological studies have shown that people did not travel abroad and did not interact with confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Specialists examine the routes of these infections, so the statistics can still change if links are found between individual cases.

There are 2 more deaths from coronavirus in Lithuania

NVSC reports that 2 deaths from COVID-19 were recorded in Lithuania last day. Currently, the infection has claimed 112 lives.

The first case of death was registered in Šiauliai county. The person belonged to the age group 80-89, had chronic diseases. The coronavirus was confirmed in one person on September 24. The person was treated in the Department of Nursing and Supportive Care of Kuršėnai Hospital.

The second case of death was in Kaunas County. The person belonged to the age group of 70 to 79 years, had chronic diseases. The coronavirus was confirmed in one person on September 28. During the epidemiological diagnosis of the outbreak, specialists were unable to determine how the person was infected.

NVSC reports that a total of 7041 cases of COVID-19 disease have been confirmed in Lithuania, 3862 people are still sick, 3035 – have recovered.

There are currently 199 people in hospitals for coronavirus, 19 for critically ill patients treated for resuscitation, 9 for artificial lung ventilation and 80 for oxygen masks.