Business liberalization will only take place at the national level and not at the municipal level

The Interior Minister, president of the Government’s Emergency Commission, informed Agnė Bilotaitė that the Commission had approved the quarantine change plan, which provided exemptions for services, commerce and the operation of catering establishments. The government plans to pass a plan to release quarantine restrictions at a meeting on Monday.

“It should be noted that the quarantine change plan is distinguished by the fact that it provides for the possibility of making exemptions both at the national level and in relation to individual municipalities,” says A. Bilotaitė.

He confirmed that trade and services will be decided from Monday. Business decisions will be made at the national level.

“As far as I know, today a quarantine release plan should be considered and apparently the government will make a decision of one kind or another. And when it comes to concrete things, I want to point out that it is the government that decides: what does the trade entail? and the services, due to the specific conditions, the specific circumstances, how it should be organized. The Government will have to do it during the meeting, “says A. Bilotaitė.

Weekly and sometimes more frequent VEKS meetings will review the situation and propose specific measures for release from quarantine.

The quarantine release plan is linked to morbidity rates and the number of positive tests, which must be reviewed weekly. A. Bilotaitė emphasized that the objective was not to create centers of attraction in the municipalities.

Last week, the Ministry of Economy and Innovation made a proposal to resume beauty services and the operation of non-grocery stores from February 8, and individual ministers last Monday promised that layoffs are possible in the next few days. On Wednesday, the government received negative conclusions from a panel of experts and therefore announced that a plan to release the quarantine restrictions would be thoroughly examined this week.

Currently, the morbidity rate reaches 350 new cases per 100,000. population in 14 days, according to the Department of Statistics. The lowest morbidity is recorded in the municipalities of Rietavas, Šilalė, Jurbarkas, Kalvarija, Birštonas, Skuodas, Pasvalys, where the case rate is less than 150. And the highest morbidity is recorded in Visaginas, Rokiškis, Biržai, where the case rate is over 700 In Vilnius 416 cases were detected per 100 thousand. population.

The quarantine in Lithuania is valid from November 7. From December 16. Tighter restrictions have been introduced.