Expert: Positive trends have stopped, on February 21 we crossed the dangerous threshold

Simonas Krėpšta, senior adviser to the president and head of the Economic and Social Policy Group, said it should not be said that the third wave of the coronavirus had started.

“We can see that the figures show that the pace of recovery has stopped. And we have some stabilization of the situation, but at the meeting it was discussed that it is not really necessary to draw firm conclusions about the current situation. It is much better than in December. Right now, depending on the level of infections, we are in the middle of October last year, “said S. Krėpšta.

The Statistics Department announced Monday that the situation should already be called the “third wave.” S. Krėpšta said that it is not necessary to do so.

“It can probably be said that the term ‘third wave’ would not be exact and correct to describe the current situation. Yes, we have a constant improvement, we are seeing some stabilization, but the third wave of society is associated with a very strict quarantine, with very high levels of infections, deaths, a bad situation in hospitals. “This term is probably not correct,” he said.

The president’s adviser hinted that in future it should also be possible to produce vaccines in Lithuania.

You also need to think about creating an immunity passport.

“During the meeting, it was decided that it really makes sense to discuss it, and other countries are doing the same. It really makes a lot of sense to follow the examples of other countries on what works and what doesn’t. The introduction of an immunity passport in Lithuania should also be actively considered ”, assured the president’s adviser, S. Krėpšta.

Speaking about possible releases, the presidential adviser assured that quarantined releases should only be introduced after a careful assessment of the situation.

“The president has always constantly said that we should carefully consider possible layoffs. Yes, the situation is better, we can discuss some operational facilities, but before each launch, we need to evaluate the data and evidence to see if they present additional risks,” he said. .

Overview of the epidemiological situation

After the meeting, Professor Mindaugas Stankūnas from the Department of Health Management of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU) presented the management of the coronavirus in Lithuania.

He said the encouraging trends have now stopped and an important threshold was crossed on February 21 assessing the epidemiological situation.

“The first and most interesting question is about the third wave. In fact, we believe that the positive epidemiological trends that have pleased us for a long time have stopped. We can observe this for 14 days per 100 thousand. In the dynamics of the rate of population cases as well as the growth of positive tests. What has also happened is that we are seeing that the effective reproduction size R of the virus exceeds 1 if we have had less than 1 since Christmas: the epidemic has hit. Now we see that there was already past 1. that the overcoming took place on February 21, “said M. Stankūnas after the meeting.

He argued that the slowdown in the decline in cases should not be linked to the layoffs introduced last week.

However, there is something to be happy about, said LSMU professor M. Stankūnas. The fact that for the third consecutive day the number of single-digit deaths from coronavirus is recorded.

“This has not been the case for more than 100 days,” he told a news conference. The last time such a number was recorded was on November 8.

Recent mobility data also shows that there has been growth since the beginning of January. But mobility to quarantine has not yet been achieved.

“There is a slight tendency for Vilnius residents to be less mobile, a bit more, Klaipėda and Šiauliai residents,” said a representative from LSMU about the mobility data.

He urged the public to mobilize more their strength and patience and overcome this stage.

“People are tired, we understand it. (…) Experts don’t have green passports or anything else, we do that too, that’s the problem. Everyone is tired, all over the world. In some countries, fatigue is It manifests itself in quite strong protests, perhaps people lack the strength, the motivation to follow those recommendations.

But what we have done now has been shown to the President today from almost 1,500. 100 thousand cases. population, so far 250 cases, were not made by the president, the prime minister, the experts, it was the people. I think we have to see that a lot has already been done and try to find more strength, keep going to the point of decline, “said M. Stankūnas at the press conference.