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Vilnius City Clinical Hospital is finally closing the doors of scheduled service departments. In the absence of quarantine, the government has presented a plan for new possible restrictions, including a possible store closures.
President Gitanas Nausėda does not rule out the possibility that a state of emergency should be declared in Lithuania.
In the Vilnius City Clinical Hospital, located in the Antakalnis district, more and more COVID-19 patients. As a result, the body closes the door on other patients. All scheduled services will be suspended here, some patients will be evacuated, and emergency care will not be provided.
“Starting today, Antakalnis 57 is scheduled to close and no services will be provided at Antakalnis Hospital. As a result, we will have 60 additional seats for this weekend,” says Aušra Bilotienė-Motiejūnienė, Managing Director of Santara Clinics.
“Because this is the situation in Lithuania, such an increase in morbidity. We are forced to implement that plan: to close the therapeutic and surgical rooms, to start treating COVID-19 patients here,” says Narimantas Markevičius, director of the Vilnius City Clinical Hospital.
To accommodate COVID-19 patients in the Vilnius region, it is necessary to find an average of 35 free beds every day. It is true that the biggest problem is not the lack of space, but the lack of doctors. At present, it is unclear whether there will be enough doctors in Vilnius who can monitor COVID-19 patients.
“Unfortunately, there are not enough staff at Antakalnis Hospital, so additional places or beds can only be opened after finding staff, or with the help of one or another team to work,” says A. Bilotienė-Motiejūnienė.
At present, all hospitals in Lithuania have 1940 COVID-19 patients.
“We will probably reach our peak here at this stage, because there is a shortage of staff everywhere and if we continue to follow the curve and increase to this level, there can be big problems.” There are beds, but no one works, ”said A. Bilotienė-Motiejūnienė.
Hospitals are already trying to place only the most seriously ill patients in wards.
“All doctors work in very difficult, extreme and catastrophic conditions. There is a lot of psychological stress, physical stress. When severe patients arrive, they suffocate, they need help. I really want to ask everyone, follow all the recommendations , follow the distances, not meet, not visit the supermarkets when it is not necessary, help everyone, help each other and help the doctors ”, says N. Markevičius.
During yesterday, Lithuanian laboratories detected 2514 new infections. This is the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic. Another 26 people died yesterday from COVID-19.
“We do not believe in the virus, we run, we move, we communicate, we get infected, then we find ourselves in medical institutions and now medical institutions have reached a point where they no longer have time to do everything,” says the Minister of interim health Aurelijus Veryga.
Aurelijus Veryga will offer major changes in stores and markets on Monday. There are several restriction options available. First, fewer people were able to visit the outlets. You want to increase the commercial space per person from 10 to 15 or even 20 square meters.
The maximum number of people allowed in the largest shopping and entertainment centers can be tripled.
Another option is even more strict: the government will consider closing all points of sale except pharmacies, food stores, opticians, veterinarians and orthopedics. Online shopping could also operate, allowing only collection points to function. Similar restrictions were applied in the spring, during the first quarantine.
Leisure services would no longer be divided into individual and group. As a result, all entertainment would be prohibited. The exceptions would only apply to professional athletes.
There would be no part-time teleworking in public institutions. If possible, all institutions would only work remotely.
Schools and all extracurricular activities would only function remotely.
“There will be so many measures for jobs that could be more strictly regulated. Telecommuting, with masks. Really, I think the question of reviewing the educational process is whether you could look at something else. Veryga still plans to introduce the use of masks at work today, not only during meetings, unless the person is sitting alone in the room, ”says A. Veryga.
President Gitanas Nausėda also mentioned the introduction of a state of emergency in Lithuania. Such a regime may be necessary only because of a restriction that the Lithuanian population has not seen before: the curfew. Juozas Augutis, rector of Vytautas Magnus University, member of the Presidency’s Council of Health Experts, also supports the stricter restrictions plan.
“We have to take action and not just persuasion, but stricter measures in supermarkets, non-food products, school work, medical institutions. The biggest sources of this virus are everywhere. Action must be taken, ”said Juozas Augutis, rector of the Vytautas Magnus University.
The government plans to provide more information on possible restrictions next week.
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