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The list of affected countries includes those countries where the incidence of coronavirus infection (COVID-19) exceeds 25 cases per 100,000 in the last 14 days. population threshold. Lithuania’s own indicator is already level on Friday 45.8.
All affected countries, from which self-isolation is mandatory when returning or arriving in Lithuania, will be announced on Friday afternoon.
However, it can already be seen that only the same 4 EU / EEC countries will be excluded as last week: Latvia, Finland, Liechtenstein Y Cyprus. (It should be noted that the morbidity rate in Cyprus is very close to the red line: 24.4 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants).
This means that returnees, even from those countries where the epidemiological situation is better than in Lithuania, will have to remain isolated. For example, the incidence rate in Germany is 32.1, in Italy – 40.4, in Greece – 41.8 cases per 100 thousand cases. population.
Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga announced at a press conference on Friday that proposals would be sent to both COVID-19 and the Government next week, to remove a specific number and link the cap to the indicator that Lithuania has.
So, according to the minister, the self-isolation requirement would apply only to those who come from countries where the rate would be higher than in our country. “Of course, except in third countries, where we may not be able to trust the test strategy and its indicators,” warned A.Veryga.
Lithuania also awaits an EU decision
The Health Minister said that there is still a debate in Europe about the lists of affected countries, about how to regulate the movement of the population in a unified way, what self-isolation rules should be applied. The agreement, emphasized A.Veryga, does not yet exist, but mentioned what is being discussed.
The self-isolation requirement would apply only to those who come from countries where the rate would be higher than in our country.
One of those recommendations is to avoid discrimination based on neighboring countries. “We could be an example in this case: Poland and Estonia have certain exceptions that do not apply to other countries. That is what Europe is talking about, that if there were such exceptions, they would apply to all EU and Schengen countries, ”said the minister. What exceptions does Lithuania apply to Poland and Estonia? You will find it here.
According to him, the EU would also like to agree to monitor not only the number of new cases, but also the number of ongoing investigations and a positive percentage of all ongoing investigations.
“Clearly, there are discussions about slightly higher rates for countries that would be in the so-called green zone. It is proposed to increase this indicator to 50 cases per 100,000. population in the last two weeks. And the percentage of positive tests detected should not exceed 3% ”, said A.Veryga.
It is proposed to leave exceptions for work and study, which almost coincide with those that Lithuania now applies to neighboring countries.
“We hope that Europe can reach a consensus and we will have a more or less uniform procedure,” the minister expected.
Will the islands stand out?
He could not specify whether it was also trying to exclude certain areas, such as islands, from the lists of affected countries. This is especially requested by the tourism business, which would then have the opportunity to transport travelers to epidemiologically safe islands, such as Greece, Portugal and Spain.
Some countries already exclude regions from their lists. Germany, for example, has included it in the list of affected areas Šiauliai region.
Audronė Keinytė, Head of the Novaturas group 15 minutes previously commented that the breakdown of indicators for Lithuanian organizers ensure fair competition with tour operators from other countries of the European Union.
“Delays in making the necessary decisions force us to cancel people’s pre-planned trips. Only in mid-October, the number of trips of this type is around 1500. At the same time, this means a burden increasing for tour operators to pay for missed trips. If the decision to divide morbidity into regions had been made earlier, we would have been able to offer travelers safer holiday destinations, “said A.Keinytė.
Milda Plepytė-Rainienė, Executive Director of the Lithuanian Tourism Association (LTA) 15 minutes He said that for tour operators, the separation of islands is essential if we want to talk about the continuity of their activities. “Because the situation is very dynamic and very volatile, the possibility of having more addresses that the organizers can fly to, in a safe epidemiological situation, would be a kind of operational guarantee,” he said.
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