BNS: Highlights of Wednesday 15min.lt

Coronavirus situation:

* Last day 3,418 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed, with 44 deaths, the highest number of cases and daily deaths since the start of the pandemic. Hospitals treat 2,307 COVID-19 patients, 184 of them in resuscitation. According to data published by The New York Times, Lithuania according to the number of COVID-19 cases is 100 thousand. The population in the last seven days leads the world, according to death is the fifteenth.

* Health Minister Arūnas Dulkys has warned that if quarantine requirements are not met, the Lithuanian health system may not be able to bear the burden after two weeks.

* If the European Medicines Agency advances the approval deadline for the vaccine, it could arrive in Lithuania during the Christmas period. Renaldas Jurkevičius, general director of the Kaunas Clinics, says that the vacation period would be a good time to vaccinate the doctors, because due to the reaction to the vaccines, some of them may not be able to work temporarily. The government has budgeted $ 65 million for next year’s COVID-19 vaccines. more than 80 million. planned other measures to combat the pandemic.

* European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says European Union countries will seek to launch vaccination against COVID-19 at the same time, thus demonstrating unity.

* Germany has the highest number of deaths per day with 952. In Germany, the strictest quarantine requirements went into effect on Wednesday, with non-food stores closed.

Strict quarantine. Starting Wednesday, stricter quarantine conditions came into effect in Lithuania: non-essential shops were closed and residents could only leave their homes for one important reason. By prohibiting unnecessary movements between municipalities, the police promise to use mobile checkpoints, “tripods”, video cameras on the roads and a special mobile application to monitor people’s places of residence. Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė warns that if people do not comply with quarantine requirements and still flow into stores en masse, restrictions may be introduced on the sale of unnecessary goods.

COO. The government has appointed Health Minister A. Dulkis as head of operations for the state of emergency. Previously, I. Šimonytė considered that she herself could accept these positions, but in the end decided to leave the same order as in the government of Saulius Skvernelis. According to I. Šimonytė, this procedure will allow decisions to be made more quickly.

Additional costs. The government revised the proposed budget for next year. Increase spending by more than $ 1.1 billion. Most of these funds are intended to manage the effects of the pandemic. The deficit of public administrations in 2021 will be 7%. gross domestic product, two points higher than expected. The budget provides additional funds for disability benefits, downtime allowances, and soft loans. The presidency argues that such a deficit is justified in the context of a pandemic, but that a plan to reduce public debt is necessary.

Unprecedented mortality. According to the Department of Statistics, there are more deaths than usual in the ninth consecutive week of people over 50 years old. In the fiftieth week of the year, an average of 730 deaths were recorded in this group, but this year there were 425 more deaths, at the most in 20 years.

Sanctions against Belarus. The ambassadors of the European Union countries agreed to impose sanctions on Belarusian companies and individuals who support Alexander Lukashenko’s regime. Sanctions were imposed on 29 natural persons and seven legal entities. The specific companies blacklisted have yet to be released. On the same day, Sviatlana Cichanouskaya, an opposition leader living in Lithuania, withdrew the prestigious Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought and human rights in Brussels.

Artificial meat. The Singapore restaurant will begin offering dishes made from lab-grown chicken. Singapore became the first country to allow the sale of meat produced without the slaughter of animals. The consumption of animal products represents a threat to the environment, so farmed meat is expected to become a more sustainable alternative.

Good for Paris. The authorities of the French capital, Paris, received 90 thousand. fines for employing too many women in senior positions. Mayor Anne Hidalgo called the decision absurd. The Ministry of Civil Service demanded a fine from the Paris City Council, arguing that it violated national norms on gender parity when in 2018, 11 women and only five men were appointed to leadership positions in the City Council. Under the current procedure, no gender could hold more than 60 per cent of a managerial position.