NVSC reported 62nd death from coronavirus in Lithuania

Ginreta Megelinskienė, Chief of the Infectious Disease Management Division of the Vilnius Department of the National Center for Public Health, said that information was received on Friday about the death of 1 patient from the Santara clinics by COVID-19. He was hospitalized in the department of thoracic surgery, belonged to the age group 71-80 and had concomitant oncological diseases.

Death will hit official statistics on Saturday morning.

Ginreta Megelinskienė, Head of the Communicable Disease Management Division of the Vilnius Department of the National Center for Public Health, announced at a press conference that according to European disease control and prevention data, COVID-19 is on a trend to the decline in 29 countries. The peak was in the European Union on April 9. 21 percent patients died

According to G. Megelinskienė, 11 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Lithuania on Thursday. 1 of them in Kaunas County and 10 in Vilnius County.

“The Kaunas County case is related to the Kaunas Clinical Hospital, it is a family member of a person who works there. In Vilnius County: 1 resident of House 15 Pergal Street, reported yesterday. Today, a total of 6 cases of COVID-19 have been registered in this house. 3 cases in the Santara Clinics, 1 in the University Hospital of the Vilnius Republic, which was also reported yesterday, an employee of the central kitchen of Rimi, as well as a case related to the chimney of the Vilnius City Clinical Hospital, a member of the family. Three cases are still unknown, “said G. Megelinskienė.

According to G. Megelinskienė, 16 COVID-19 diseases are currently registered in the Santara clinics. Of these, 5 people work in the infectious disease center, 1 works in the third intensive care unit, 7 cases are possibly related to each other: 2 people who work in the second intensive care unit, 5 employees of the thoracic surgery department . 3 cases of COVID-19 disease are possibly associated with these cases.

New cases in Vilnius hospital

G. Megelinskienė said that all employees of the Rimi store in Žirmūnai were interviewed and it was established that there were possible connections not only with the house on Pergalės Street, but also with the Vilnius City Clinical Hospital as well as the Vilnius Republican Hospital.

“Today we receive information that in the Vilnius City Clinical Hospital there are 2 new cases of coronavirus in the department of internal medicine. The worker and patient became ill. Additional examinations are being carried out in the hospital and 2 new cases have been registered and will be included in tomorrow’s statistics, “said G. Megelinskienė.

In addition, according to the NVSC representative, information was received on Friday about another case of infection possibly related to the Vilnius City Clinical Hospital.

“This is a person who works at the National Cancer Institute and a member of his family. According to the person, an employee who worked at the National Cancer Institute did not work with patients and the external radiation department of the cancer department where that person worked is currently closed. NVSC specialists work on it and explain the circumstances. The person was last at work on May 19. The person’s relative was discharged from the Vilnius City Clinical Hospital, was not diagnosed with COVID-19, and was treated in the internal medicine department. He died on May 15, 2020, but was not diagnosed with COVID-19. This person’s funeral took place in Rokiškis, about 15 people participated, ”said G. Megelinskienė.

Rapid tests are not suitable for early diagnosis.

Minister Aurelijus Veryga said at a press conference that COVID-19 rapid tests were found to be unsuitable for early diagnosis of the disease because their sensitivity was too low. However, they should be suitable for subsequent diagnosis or detection of where the infection prevailed.

The Minister also mentioned that the recommendations for higher education and other educational institutions on how additional education should be carried out have been approved.

Professor Aurelija Žvirblienė from the Vilna University Life Sciences Center said at the press conference that her center had to verify the (rapid) serological tests of COVID-19. They were examined together with doctors from the Santara clinics, from which biobank samples were used. Rapid tests from different manufacturers were checked and compared with molecular (laboratory) tests.

“The main conclusion: if the samples are collected for up to two weeks, the antibody detection efficiency there is very low, reaching 20-30%. Depending on the manufacturer. Of the 10 samples, only 2 or 3 show antibodies. In samples of late infection, the efficacy was significantly higher and one test showed around 90 percent. efficiency, others around 70%, “said A. Žvirblienė.

However, the number of false positive results using rapid tests was extremely low.

Virus testing – only when necessary

The May 20 decision established the procedure for taking samples for the detection of coronaviruses at mobile sites. The decision states that it is possible to investigate people who receive invasive treatment services other than dental and oral care. Why is this group of patients excluded from the decision, why is it not being studied? How to examine these patients before the visit?

“Even with certain scheduled services, a person is not necessarily hospitalized, there are several day services, where the person still needs to be examined enough and doctors need a lot of protection.” And for dentists, a very simple explanation: let’s imagine how many there are and how many people need such services. We really don’t have the physical ability to explore that many people and it’s just an unrealistic wish, “Veryga said.

The minister also spoke about the fact that too many Lithuanians are currently pre-emptively controlled at mobile checkpoints. For this reason, the procedure for such inspections will be reviewed.

“It seems that there is an urgency not to rush, to investigate those who do not need, they do not work very well.” Unfortunately, those people who have no symptoms or had any contact, feel a little scared, break the hotline, mobile points, and no longer receive patients who really need to be examined because they need to go to the hospital. And next week, we should have developed and then published a more general strategy on how we plan to evaluate the public in the future. And the logic will probably be different, not to evaluate the whole team, but to take 2 to 3 people and investigate. Because the saying that a group can be prophylactically exploited is exploited, I don’t know, Lithuanians miraculously manage to read the word recommendation as a must. Apparently, linguists should also be asked about which word to use if it is not clear to everyone what is recommended and what is required. And for the time being, those who don’t feel any symptoms should relax over the weekend, do other things, but not drive through mobile points and worry that registering there is difficult, “said A. Veryga.

There will be no big fairs yet

Asked by the Minister whether popular artists, whose main source of livelihood is the fairs, can be expected to hold the fairs again soon, A. Veryga replied that everything would depend on the situation and size of the fair.

“The fair does not depend on the fair. If it is as big as the Kaziukas fair, I can almost certainly say that it will not be. But the same folk artists actually participate in smaller events and travel to various parts of Lithuania. The principle itself how much of it is planned to allow people to gather in public space has been presented to the government, but has not yet been adopted, ”said A. Veryga.

Filling

National Center for Public Health (NVSC) May 22, according to:

• Number of confirmed cases per individual: 1604
• Number of sick people: 424
• Number of new COVIDs 19 confirmed yesterday: 11
• Number of 19 COVID deaths: 61
• Coronavirus deaths from other causes:
• Number of healthy people: 1111
• Number of people in isolation: 398
• All countries are considered affected areas.