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Spread of the virus. Three deaths from coronavirus were reported on Wednesday: the death of a patient treated at the Santara clinics, a resident of the Antaviliai pension and a resident of Marijampolė. Eight new cases of infection per day were confirmed, all registered in Vilnius County. Five of them are related to the virus outbreak at the Vilnius City Clinical Hospital, two related to the outbreak at the Santara clinics, as well as a relative of a production employee of the Rimi retail chain.
Quarantine regime. The government extended the quarantine regime until June 16, but relaxed its requirements:
* The government has allowed the resumption of flights from Lithuania to Germany and the Netherlands. Wizz Air and Air Baltic are considering flying to Dortmund, Berlin, Eindhoven, and Amsterdam. Flights to Frankfurt have resumed before.
* One hour – up to 23 hours – extended hours of cafes, restaurants, bars, discos.
* From June 1 to 15, cultural, entertainment, sports or other events with spectators are allowed: no more than 300 spectators in open spaces, no more than 100 indoors. Starting June 16, the number of spectators for outdoor events will increase to 500, indoors – up to 150.
Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis says the extension of the quarantine is necessary to control the spread of the virus within the country and protect against imported cases. However, the opposition claims that the ruling is doing so due to political deductions in the run-up to the Seimas elections, and business representatives caution that the quarantine encourages consumer pessimism and therefore harms the economy.
EU Fund. The European Commission has proposed that Lithuania could request 6.3 billion. € 750 billion from the emerging European Recovery Fund. euros Of these, 3.9 billion. € 2.4 billion in grants and € 2.4 billion in EUR – loans. Most of the support goes to Spain and Italy. The fund will be created with borrowed funds, and Lithuanian politicians see the risk that in the future the debt may be covered at the expense of supporting Eastern Europeans.
Support for older people. The government has welcomed a new option for employers to release workers 60 and older during an emergency or quarantine in exchange for a subsidy. The final decision must be made by Seimas.
Preparations for the elections. Due to the risk of coronavirus, the government proposes to extend the voting time by two days, establish more polling stations and allow citizens living abroad to vote by mail only. Amendments to the laws will be submitted to Seimas.
Empty schools Education Minister Algirdas Monkevičius announced that about 80 percent of schools will end the school year remotely. According to him, he is currently working intensively to improve distance learning programs and opportunities for the upcoming school year.
Private investigation For those who want to be tested for the coronavirus, the tests can also be done at five private laboratories for a fee. This information was approved by the Ministry of Health.
Foreign:
* The number of COVID-19 victims worldwide exceeded 350,000. The United States had the highest number of deaths: 98,929, followed by the United Kingdom (37,048), Italy (32,955), France (28,530) and Spain (27,117).
* Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, said she was “not too concerned” that a coronavirus pandemic could renew fears of a eurozone collapse, the ECB said in a report published Tuesday. He also announced a forecast that the eurozone economy would shrink by 8-12 percent in 2020, saying a slight 5 percent. The scenario of economic recession discussed at the April ECB meeting has already been rejected.
* French President Emmanuel Macron has announced $ 8 billion. a plan to revitalize the French auto industry and make it a European leader in electric cars.
* In Latvia, one coronavirus death and four cases per day were confirmed, in Estonia, one death and six cases. Estonia announced that ten cases of coronavirus had been imported from Finland and none from Latvia and Lithuania as a result of facilitating cross-border movement this month.
* Moscow will ease quarantine restrictions from June 1, it will be allowed to open non-food stores, the mayor announced.
* A French study showed that even people with a mild case of COVID-19 can develop antibodies that lead to immunity for several weeks or more. According to the researchers, the results of the study are encouraging.
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