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On Monday night, he told the LRT Forum that the initiative will have four goals: to give the population greater access to various services, to get the business back up and running, to expand testing in younger groups who cannot be vaccinated, and to control the spread. of the virus itself.
“It is about the idea of a passport, I feel support in the Government for this idea, I feel the support of the Prime Minister and I hope that we will be able to implement it,” said the Minister.
A. Armonaitė: tests – also in pharmacies, valid 24 hours a day
According to her, in conversations with the Ministry of Health, there are still “nuances” about how the tests will be expanded, because to guarantee equal opportunities for all, the state must pay for COVID-19 tests for all and the results of the tests. tests. must be evaluated and entered e. the health system is not for anyone but for health professionals.
“This means that the limited number of specialists is a problem for municipalities to organize the tests. We have been looking for ways together with the Ministry of Health that allow the municipalities to organize this service in a more flexible way, it seems that we will move (…) We will not live in quarantine forever and I choose to look for that solution instead of thinking for a while ” said A. Armonaitė.
The minister hinted that it is being considered that the tests could be carried out both in municipal mobile points “or pharmacies” with public funds, and in private institutions, for the money of the population. According to her, a negative test result in the passport of opportunity is currently proposed to be valid for 24 hours.
“Since the epidemiological situation is not very good, we are moving towards a 24-hour period, but we do not rule out the possibility that we can change it as the situation improves, no one is charged, anyway written in blood,” he added. she said.
According to her, in practice, the passport could come into force from the end of May.
SAM Vice Minister: We must seize the opportunity
The Deputy Minister of Health, Živilė Simonaitytė, stated in the program that the opportunity passport and the cost of the tests are “so low” compared to the subsidies for companies that “it is definitely worth going down the opportunity passport path, not the fringe benefits. “
“We, as SAM, say that the only and last way to get out of a situation and return to a normal life is through vaccination. But with the full understanding that there is not only physical but also mental health, and society has been living in a quarantine, emergency or restriction mode for more than a year: if we have the opportunity, when we can use other means (.. .), of course, that must be done, ”he said.
Equal Opportunities Ombudsman Birutė Sabatauskaitė said the service under her leadership raised the issue of providing more comprehensive services to people who cannot yet be vaccinated, so it is important, according to her, to ensure the availability of vaccines and tests according to “geographical conditions and social location”.
Rolanda Lingienė, director of the National Center for Public Health (NVSC), stated that the proposal criticized by doctors to provide opportunities for passport holders and negative tests presents minimal risk of spreading the virus. However, he called on the government and companies to provide technical solutions to ensure that the unique QR code assigned to a person belongs to him, as several attempts by passengers to circumvent the system have been recorded at airports, he said.
In his opinion, the introduction of tests will give positive results to identify asymptomatic COVID-19 patients.
Passport holders and antibody holders
Vice Minister of Health Ž. Simonaitytė emphasized that according to the idea under consideration, the resident will only need to download a mobile application that would generate a QR code from the electronic health system and the person will be able to display it on a smartphone or print it.
According to her, all tests are considered allowed, but rapid antigen tests should be used as a basis, with a response time of about 20 minutes. Individuals could also be screened at private health facilities, on their own, as well as at municipal mobile points on a “separate line,” as well as at the Registry Center, and the necessary technological solutions would be delivered to those with COVID Antibodies. -19.
“We also plan to introduce these so-called antibody tests in the passport of opportunity, that is, if a person has been sick for a long time or they may not even know they are sick, they have antibodies, they will also be able to do them.” evidence affirmed by the deputy minister.
She says that the wholesale price of the rapid antigen tests that the state buys them for is “percent of euros”, but the price of the tests should also include the services of health professionals, since only they could analyze the results. At that time, the service of such a test in private institutions, according to Ž. Simonaitytė, costs 12-19 euros per person. She says the price of the tests could drop as demand increases.
Ž. Simonaitytė mentioned that the concept of passport of opportunity is being developed only for Lithuania, but at the same time its joint validity with Latvia and Estonia is being discussed after the creation of the Baltic bubble.
Decisions – Wednesday
The Passport of Opportunities concept was discussed by the government at an informal ministerial meeting on Monday, and is expected to finally be agreed on Wednesday. The Passport of Opportunity should start operating in Lithuania earlier than the planned European Union Green Certificate, and it is planned to integrate these two systems in the future.
However, when considering the idea, it was not supported by the leader of the Liberal Movement, the president of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, who stated that hoping to have an EU document in June, “there is no longer a target for speed up the Lithuanian Equivalent “.
According to the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, this would be a virtual document that could be obtained by people who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, have acquired immunity (COVID-19) or a negative test result. In each case, the person will receive a unique QR code to confirm their immunity.
According to the ministry, such a passport could allow indoor catering services, larger indoor and outdoor events, leisure entertainment, and allow service providers to host personal celebrations if more than two households are involved.
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