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Coronavirus situation:
* 1192 new cases of COVID-19 disease were confirmed in Lithuania per day, six people died, 1629 people are receiving coronavirus treatment in hospitals. The government and experts expect a peak this week or next and the number of infections to start to decline later. If this does not happen, the quarantine may need to be enforced.
* Members of the government have tentatively decided to extend the quarantine until December 16 or 17. A formal decision will be made on Wednesday. Under the current resolution, the quarantine was introduced in Lithuania until November 29.
Eriko Ovcharenko / 15min nuotr./Karantinas Kaune
* Health Minister Aurelius Veryga warned that the government may restrict the operation of supermarkets on weekends if merchants do not meet the requirements to restrict the flow of people. The government promises to monitor the situation more closely this week.
* The outgoing government of Saulius Skvernelis has approved the offer to buy vaccines from the German pharmaceutical company CureVac. This is the fifth vaccine approved by the Lithuanian government. Lithuania intends to participate in joint acquisitions of the European Union.
* UK-based pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford reported that the efficacy of their jointly developed vaccine against COVID-19 ranged from 62 to 90 percent, depending on the dose received by patients. Pfizer and Moderna have previously reported successful vaccines, with greater than 90% efficacy. Although the effectiveness of the Oxford vaccine may be somewhat lower, it has other advantages: it is cheaper, it is easier to store and transport because it does not require such a low temperature.
* Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced his recovery from COVID-19. “I finally got a negative result in the coronavirus test,” he posted on a social network. The coronavirus was approved by the president on November 9.
* Russia continues to record morbidity records: for the first time a day more than 25 thousand were diagnosed. new cases.
* The quarantine went into effect in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, with restaurants and most stores closed for a month. Schools remain open.
Work of the Seimas. The Seimas leadership has decided that the plenary session will take place on Tuesday, but then a pause will be announced until December 3 to control the spread of the coronavirus in parliament. The Liberal Movement has announced that contacts with sick colleagues have isolated all members of the group. The coronavirus was detected last week by party president Viktorija Čmilyte-Nielsen, faction members Jonas Varkalis and Viktoras Pranckietis.
Luke April / 15 Minute Photo / Victoria Čmilytė-Nielsen
OECD Assessment. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has announced a forecast that the Lithuanian economy should contract by 2% this year, and in 2021 the growth of the country’s gross domestic product will reach 2.7%. The review notes that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the country’s economy was relatively mild, with nearly 10 percent contributing to it. Government support program oriented to GDP for companies and the population. The organization also called on the Lithuanian government to increase social support for the poor, introduce a pollution tax, privatize some state companies and merge small schools to achieve higher quality education in rural areas.
Military training ground. In an interview with BNS, the commander of the Lithuanian Armed Forces announced that the idea of establishing a new military training ground in the area near Kuršėnai and Telšiai was abandoned, considering the farmers’ interests to preserve fertile land. Lieutenant General Valdemaras Rupšys announced that a new study would be announced and that the territory would be registered not only in western Lithuania.
Photo by Luke April / 15 minutes / Valdemaras Rupšys
Repression in Belarus. The Belarusian Interior Ministry said 345 people had been arrested and charged with administrative misconduct on Sunday during traditional demonstrations against authoritarian President Aliaksandr Lukashenko. The arrests continued Monday as retirees protested.
Government of the United States. US President-elect Joe Biden begins shaping his team. The New York Times has announced that it intends to appoint veteran diplomat Antony Blinken as secretary of state. Blinken, 58, served as undersecretary of state in President Barack Obama’s administration and is a longtime Biden aide. Biden may announce more nominations on Tuesday.
Sarkozy cut. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was tried in Paris on corruption charges. The former president is accused of illegally trying to obtain information from a judge about an investigation into the financing of the presidential election campaign, in exchange for promising the judge a prestigious position in Monaco. Sarkozy served as president of France from 2007 to 2012. He denies his guilt.
„Reuters“ / „Scanpix“ nuotr./Nicolas Sarkozy
Judicial processes. Joshua Wong, one of the leading figures in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, and two other activists have pleaded guilty to trial for their involvement in last year’s protests. The defendants believe they will be sentenced to prison. The verdict will be released in early December. In Hong Kong, millions of people participated in demonstrations for democracy last year, but China rejected calls for free elections, prosecuted activists and passed a strict national security law.
Greenhouse effect. The United Nations has announced that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, one of the main drivers of climate change, reached record levels last year and have continued to rise this year despite measures to stop the pandemic.
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