BNS: Tuesday’s highlights 15min.lt

Coronavirus situation:

* 1510 new cases of coronavirus were detected in Lithuania, 27 people died. Lithuanian hospitals are currently treating 2,568 COVID-19 patients, 196 of them in resuscitation. Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė says that due to the latest holiday period, it is still too early to talk about trends, the Government intends to review the quarantine conditions on January 17.

* The Minister of Health, Arūnas Dulkys, presented the planned plan for vaccination against COVID-19: in January it is planned to vaccinate all medical personnel, patients who are at higher risk of contracting the disease will continue to be vaccinated, later – residents nursing and care institutions.

* The National Public Health Laboratory has announced that it is signing new contracts and acquiring facilities for COVID-19 research, which should be sufficient for half a year. According to the laboratory, this is the highest-value centralized purchase of equipment for COVID-19 research in Lithuania’s history.

* The government of Latvia has experienced a political crisis over the vaccination plan. Prime Minister Krišjanis Karinis expressed mistrust of Health Minister Ilze Vinkele. Critics say Latvia’s vaccination plan was primarily based on the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has yet to be approved, and the Pfizer and BionTech vaccines have been bought very little. The minister says the accusations are unfounded and the prime minister is trying to shed his responsibility and make him a “scapegoat” but has no choice but to resign.

* A strict quarantine has been announced in the UK, which will last at least until mid-February. Its goal is to slow the spread of a new, more contagious strain of coronavirus. Learning will take place remotely, non-essential stores and institutions will be closed for take out only. The country’s government has also announced an additional $ 4.6 billion. £ (5.1 billion euros) business support plan.

* The vaccine manufacturer BioNTech has advised that it has no evidence that it is safe to delay a second vaccination with its vaccine for more than three weeks. Some countries use this tactic to vaccinate as many people as possible with the first dose. The manufacturer claims that the effectiveness of the vaccine is based on a three-week period between two doses of the vaccine.

* Ten experts from the World Health Organization go to China to explain the origin of the coronavirus. The visit is clouded by accusations of information concealment. Beijing delayed permission for independent experts to conduct the investigation, but has now given permission for the visit.

Judicial situation. The Seimas again postponed the appointment procedure for three new Constitutional Court judges. This decision was made on the proposal of the head of parliament, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen. She based the proposal on the fact that parliament intends to move to telecommuting, and judges can only be appointed by secret ballot, which must be held live. The Seimas has not appointed three new judges to the Constitutional Court in almost a year. All three nominees were rejected last April. In December, two of the same candidates and a new one re-entered the Seimas.

NVSC voltage. Giedrius Nariūnas, deputy director of the National Center for Public Health, resigned. After Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyte and Minister A. Dulkis criticized the director of the center Robertas Petraitis for the inadequate performance of his duties, he says that due to the accusations of the politicians, the population began to be hostile towards the staff of the center. center that carried out the epidemiological investigation. A.Dulkys promises to decide on the director of NVSC later this week.

President of VERT. At the end of the term of the president of the State Energy Regulatory Council, Inga Žilienė, the Seimas did not accept the consideration of the appointment of president Gitanas Nausėda in connection with his dismissal. Some members of the Seimas were outraged that I. Žiliene had not been offered another position. The presidency promises to raise the issue again.

Sanctions for the sanatorium. The bank began paying salaries to employees of the Byelorussian sanatorium in Druskininkai, which was affected by the European Union sanctions. The sanatorium’s accounts were frozen shortly after the EU imposed sanctions on the Central Economic Board within the presidential administration in Belarus. This board is a shareholder of the sanatorium. As a result, nearly 400 employees of the sanatorium, most of them Lithuanians, have been waiting for December income so far. The Foreign Ministry decided in late December that the funds could be used for staff salaries.

Elections in Georgia. Elections for two senators have begun in Georgia, USA This vote will determine which party will control the upper house of Congress and could have a major impact on the start of Joe Biden’s presidency. For the past two decades, Georgia has been represented in the Senate by Republicans, but in this state, Biden has managed to outperform Donald Trump in the presidential election. Both J. Biden and D. Trump came to Georgia to campaign for the electorate. Public opinion polls show the candidates are taking a step in the fight for the two senatorial seats.

Tuna auction. The pandemic overshadowed the annual New Year’s tuna auction held in Tokyo – it took place without the usual fierce auctions. The most expensive fish is 208 kilograms of tuna, sold for 20.84 million. yen (202 thousand dollars, 165 thousand euros). Spectators were unable to attend the famous event.

Electric cars in Norway. Norway became the first country in the world where more than half of the cars sold last year were electric. Electric cars accounted for 54.3 percent. new car market last year, compared with 42.4 percent. years before.