Bilotaitė: three more changes of restrictions and a great request await the population

As Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė said after the meeting, the extent of the evidence is worrying.

Contact with municipalities and staff: calls for tests

“Today, after the VEKS meeting, we have four knowledge. The first has to do with testing. As you know, beauty services and small shops open today. But it is very worrying that out of ten thousand specialists in this field, only two thousand people have been tested.

It is often the case that around two percent of people who are tested are diagnosed with the COVID virus. We have here a very clear request, first of all, for these people who are starting to work to be responsible and civic, especially in the context that we will commemorate tomorrow on February 16. Probably the best gift would be citizenship and the responsibility of all of us ”, said A. Bilotaitė.

According to the minister, “we really would not want to have cases in two weeks if the people who visited us had some kind of beauty services in resuscitation.”

“Another request is for the municipalities. It is also related to the scope of testing. There is a request to increase the scope of the tests. We must emphasize very clearly that any additional exemptions can only be considered if sufficient evidence is secured, ”said A. Bilotaitė.

Three restriction changes are pending

According to A. Bilotaitė, the improvement in the epidemiological situation allows us to think about the release of restrictions on movement between municipalities.

VESK will propose free movement in the circular municipalities of Alytus, Šiauliai and Panevėžys.

“The situation is like this, the government must consider this Wednesday and decide from when. Then it will be specified if a decision is made ”, he explained.

A. Bilotaitė also clarified that these three municipalities were chosen because the releases were to be made gradually.

“It was decided to go in stages. “First, starting with the smallest cities and ring municipalities, and then, evaluating the situation, the total number of diseases, the scope of the tests and their increase, other remaining municipalities may be considered,” said the Minister .

“I don’t think this is a late decision. We just look very responsibly and consistently, step by step. We understand the desire of people to live a normal life, to return to a normal reality, but it is necessary to understand that not everything is so simple ”, A. Bilotaitė also spoke about the traffic restrictions.

According to her, the highest number of police posts on the roads occurred during the festive period.

“On normal days, there is less control at this time, more on the weekends. (…) Trying to understand the pandemic and its management, we tried to gradually get out of the restrictions, ”said A. Bilotaitė.

It is also proposed to update the practical driving tests and training from Monday.

“The third and last message is that as of Wednesday at 8 pm In the morning, the control of those arriving by car from Poland is tightened,” said A. Bilotaitė.

Those traveling from the Polish side will be checked to see if they have completed the traveler information and have a negative test result.

Police stopped more than 1,200 cars in half a month

The Minister reported on the progress of the police to ensure compliance with the quarantine requirement. 1209 cars were lost in February. There were 552 of them last week and 7243 people in isolation were checked.

“The police are noticing certain trends. There are more and more cases in which more than one farm communicates and violations of the use of masks,” said A. Bilotaitė.

From February 8 to 14, the police inspected 255 businesses and found twelve violations. Eleven official warnings were carried out. Four serious violations of the requirements of the quarantine regime were recorded.

“Examples: there was a solarium and a sports club. A practical driving training was carried out, ”said A. Bilotaitė.

The Minister also welcomed the good practices of the companies.

“Some companies are taking additional security measures,” said A. Bilotaitė.

Will carry out additional checks on the border with Poland

Antanas Montvydas, Deputy Chief of the State Border Guard Service (SBGS), spoke about arrival control.

“According to the knowledge and work of our officials (it takes about ten seconds to verify a person), the proportion of people who were not registered on the website of the National Public Health Center (NVSC) was only five percent. .

We had no major problems. Except for the situation on Friday, when two flights from Tenerife arrived at the same time (almost three hundred passengers in total), but we managed to successfully deal with that situation ”, said A. Montvydas.

As of February 17. Enhanced controls of quarantine requirements will be carried out at the EU’s internal border with Poland. The SBGS Deputy Commander informed that the NVSC will provide the necessary means for control at his service.

“Today a training is being organized on how to use these tools. And as of February 17, we begin to exercise control. At least two of our mobile patrols will work, as well as the police forces that come to the rescue.

The purpose is to check all arrivals or returnees to see if they are registered on the NVSC website, have confirmation codes and all details provided.

If a person does not have a completed form on the website, or that data is not adequate, we will try to complete it on the spot (with the help of NVSC), and we will apply the types of liability provided for in the Code of Administrative Offenses to malicious persons ” said A. Montvydas.

More power for self-government

Health Minister Arūnas Dulkys pointed out that the indicators of both the country and the municipalities, which are related to the quarantine scenarios, are displayed according to two aspects: the number of new cases per 100,000. population within fourteen days and the proportion of positive diagnostic tests in the past seven days.

According to the minister, both figures are accurate, but as for the second indicator, “given that symptomatic examinations are greatly reduced, the greatest possible amount of tests is desired so that that number is as objective as possible”, which is important in the decision. -doing.

“We have already introduced tests for additional target groups (educators, psychologists returning to work after the release of quarantine restrictions), but another new tool has been introduced, which we believe will help broaden the scope of the tests. Operations manager allows municipalities to independently decide which tests and which groups in their territory would be necessary.

This means that the director of the administration of each municipality, if there are other unused registration places according to state priorities, can independently decide and use those vacancies to test the employee contact work, ”said A. Dulkys.

The Minister recalled that in December, when the highest incidence was recorded, the laboratories performed up to 16 thousand. research, that number has now doubled. It was decided to take advantage of the opportunities.

“We have given municipalities the opportunity to conduct research that would not exceed four percent of the municipality’s population,” said A. Dulkys.

According to him, if there is a desire at the municipal level to make decisions about changing the quarantine regime, at least one percent of the municipal population should be investigated.

Patients invited to return

The minister also asked residents who had postponed scheduled services to actively seek family doctors.

“The situation is changing very positively in many medical institutions. We invite you to participate in prevention programs, to receive planned day surgery, day hospital and other services.

We cooperate with medical institutions. We have discussed the criteria according to which we coordinate and the more we advance, the more the provision of health services is renewed, “said A. Dulkys.

According to the minister, the number of beds for COVID-19 patients is decreasing by about 200 every week.

This means that both the infrastructure and the staff are emerging, which can return to provide us with the usual services. (…) I can testify that medical institutions are making great efforts to make these services safe for patients. A critical mass of the medical community has already been vaccinated against coronavirus infection, working with the necessary personal protective equipment and complying with epidemiological requirements.

According to experts, the health risk due to a late consultation with a doctor is much more important than the risk of contracting a coronavirus infection, ”said A. Dulkys.

When asked when the second dose of the vaccine will be given to COVID-19 patients, A. Dulkys responded that the second dose will be given to those people after 90 days.

The Minister was pleased that the information we received on the supply of vaccines was increasingly accurate, but it is not known when we could expect to receive vaccines produced by other pharmaceutical companies.

“We are working to ensure that the vaccination schedule that we make public is updated as soon as we have official information. (…) What could be, this is a thankless prognosis, since there are more than 200 vaccines under investigation at the same time , but (…) the last negotiations were carried out with the vaccines of the pharmaceutical campaign Valneva and NovaVax, but there is still no jump here until everything is agreed, then nobody agrees. We stick to the vaccines that they are already arriving in Lithuania, ”said A. Dulkys.

A. Dulkys also pointed out that the Ministry, together with the municipalities, will discuss how to further increase the scope of the tests, but, he assured, there is no mention of the obligation.

If you do not agree to vaccinate, vaccinate others

The Minister of Health explained the principle of vaccine distribution. Initially, they are distributed proportionally among the vaccination centers, of which there are more than a hundred.

“There are several situations where something is not vaccinated in a group. (…) This is simply looking at the priorities in each treatment facility. If a priority is completed, or everyone who wanted to be vaccinated is allowed, the next group is allowed in the priority table. (…) The coercion of vaccination is not planned either, ”said A. Dulkys.

According to the minister, it is not considered which manufacturer’s vaccine is used.

“They are all considered equally safe and effective in our country,” said A. Dulkys.

Some companies have been able to resume operations since Monday.

Delphi recalls that, as of this Monday, the Government has allowed the operation of shops, kiosks and pavilions in premises with a sales area of ​​up to 300 m2. meter. and for those who have a direct entry from the field or a separate entry used only by customers of that store.

Activities are also allowed in beauty salons, hairdressers, florists, and individual outdoor workouts are allowed.

Non-food stores (excluding pharmacies and technical veterinary, animal feed, optical and orthopedic equipment), hair salons and beauty salons have been unable to operate since December 16, when quarantine restrictions were tightened.