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Tom (surname known to the publisher) 15 minutes He said that only one of the many Lithuanians working abroad faces similar problems.
Rotation every 14 days.
“I, like many colleagues, work on oil platforms in the North Sea, our rotation: we work 14 days and 14 days at home, but time at home also includes travel, so, excluding flights, there are only 12 days left to self-isolation, which is at least 14 days at the moment. ” Therefore, the question arose as to how an exit permit could be obtained before the 14-day self-isolation period (currently granted to workers in the transport sector). I work for a Dutch company and, as you know, they don’t apply isolation when they come from Lithuania, ”said Tomas.
When he became interested in being on time for work, he had already filed an application with the Ministries of Health, Foreign Affairs and the State Border Guard Service, but heard the only response from these institutions: Tom could only expect help from the NVSC.
Our rotation is 14 days at work and 14 days at home, but time at home also includes travel, so excluding flights there are only 12 days left for self-isolation, which is at least 14 days at this time.
He said in a phone call that he had heard that “you can make a reservation on the way to work, even without being a transportation worker.” As SBGS officials warned that only oral information was not appropriate, a response from NVSC was required, at least by email. So Tom wrote to NVSC in writing.
“No exceptions will apply to you”
However, the response of this institution was not gratifying. “Giedrė Aleksienė, Chief of the Communicable Disease Management Division of NVSC, wrote that isolation was compulsory upon arrival in the Republic of Lithuania on the 14th. According to her,” there are some exceptions, but they do not seem to apply to you. ” .
Valdemaras Šukštas / 15min photo / National Public Health Center (NVSC)
I was also advised to apply because, in certain exceptional cases, the NVSC issues permits to leave the isolation area. Requesting would assess my situation and receive a specific response, ”said Tom.
Information from the NVSC for travelers indicates that you can request permission from the NVSC to leave the isolation area if you need to go to the funeral of a nearby person to go to a mobile laboratory testing point for swab samples from the nasopharynx and pharynx COVID- 19 (coronavirus infection). if a person has to change the place of isolation for certain reasons or a permit for foreigners who have come to Lithuania for work, business or study reasons, who are required to remain isolated for 14 days, to go to work, study or another place necessary for commercial purposes.
Making a request would assess my situation and get a concrete response, ”said Tom.
Self-isolation upon arrival in Lithuania also does not apply to just a few groups of people: Polish citizens who have come for work, business or study, Latvian and Estonian citizens if they have traveled alone in their own countries before, as well as Lithuanians who have only been to Poland, Estonia or Latvia. and representatives of certain professions: health professionals who come to provide transplant services, journalists who come to the Republic of Lithuania with the permission of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, members of official delegations, diplomats, special couriers who work on transit trains .
This list also includes crew and crew members who work in Lithuanian companies engaged in international commercial transport or carry out international commercial transport in all types of vehicles; they must be isolated from the day of arrival in Lithuania until the departure from their territory, but not more than 14 days.
Photo from SBGS / on the Lithuanian-Latvian border
Unless something changes
That is exactly what Tom would like. “According to the plan, he should come back on June 5 and leave on June 18. And so, all the time, there is not enough time to remain in complete isolation. Perhaps by then, something else will change the rules,” said the man who worked in the North Sea.
He even said that he had asked the representatives of the NVSC to convey to the specialists who draft the legislation that Lithuanian citizens face such a situation, so perhaps it would be possible to pay attention to this when preparing the relaxation of the quarantine. They told him that the legislation should be drafted directly to the Ministry of Health.
It should return on June 5 according to plan. and leave on June 18. And so, all the time, there is not enough time to remain in complete isolation.
“The last response I received was this: I understand your situation, but the NVSC does not have the right to issue permits to leave the country before the end of the period of isolation. And I cannot do that, but if you were to approach you as described In the previous letter, the situation would be resolved on an individual basis and the NVSC department would have to make a decision. “Quarantine measures may be more lenient upon arrival,” said Tom.
No exceptions because nobody requested?
When asked about it, the Minister of Health, Aurelijus Veryga, said that the exceptions do not apply, because nobody has submitted such a request so far, he did not express such problems: “We really cannot predict every area, know where and how people work, what changes. “
Sigismund Gedvila / 15min photo / Aurelijus Veryga
According to the minister, people must turn to the ministry in charge of their area of activity, so it seems that pushing Tom from one institution to another was not fair.
“People must apply to the ministry in charge of their field, and ministries often make proposals that allow the same government resolution to be adjusted and create the conditions for people to go to their workplace,” said A. Veryga.
Tom, after hearing those words from the health minister, decided to try how it works. But it turned out not to work.
“After calling the MFA, they sent the request strictly to the NVSC again, but their specialist said that he was proposing changes to them, not to them. Therefore, it is not yet clear which ministry should propose such an amendment. But at the same time, the NVSC already has criteria to propose not to apply self-isolation to returnees from some countries from June 1. The criteria is the same as for flights: 25 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants in the last two weeks.
So if the Baltic countries approve this step, my situation will resolve itself, because the Netherlands meets the criteria, ”Tom expected, fearing unless the situation could worsen.
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