In Lithuania, the indicators of when a person will be considered recovered from a coronavirus are changing

Kristina Garuolienė, Deputy Minister of Health, Daiva Razmuvienė, Chief Specialist of the Communicable Disease Management Division of the National Center for Public Health (NVSC) and Loreta Ašoklienė, Head of the Health Promotion Division of the Ministry of Health, spoke at a press conference on Thursday.

It will change the criteria by which people will be considered healthy.

In the near future, it is planned to change the criteria on the basis of which people are considered recovered from the coronavirus, said Deputy Health Minister K. Garuolienė.

According to her, a person who has been cured of the coronavirus in a mild way from now on will be considered a person 10 days after the onset of the disease, which must be confirmed by a doctor.

“The family doctor or the doctors treating the patient will have to establish the very fact of recovery,” K. Garuolienė told reporters on Thursday.

“There will be no need for further research; after some time after the onset of the disease, it will be possible to consider that a person is healthy and can return to a normal life,” he added.

According to the deputy minister, the criteria are changed taking into account the recommendations of scientists and the practice of other countries.

A person who tested negative on two tests 14 days after becoming ill is currently considered recovered.

Cases are increasing across Europe

K. Garuolienė noted that an increase in new coronavirus cases is observed across Europe. Especially high incidence in the Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands. Morbidity is also growing rapidly in Poland and Latvia.

“When assessing the situation, today it has been noted that there is significant growth in the municipality of Vilnius. This indicates the need for serious control measures. On that occasion, I would like to remind not only Vilnius, but also other municipalities about the obligation to implement measures, ”said K. Garuolienė.

Municipalities, in turn, can restrict events, restrict patient care in medical or social care institutions, increase preventive research on the population and carry out the educational process remotely.

“Municipalities must take serious measures. According to the epidemiological situation, now the Vilnius municipality must take more serious measures,” said the deputy minister.

The deputy minister added: “Perhaps now it is enough to control the activities of sports clubs and bars in Vilnius, so that hospitals and schools do not have to be closed here later and have much more painful consequences and stricter restrictions. It is very important to react in time and take smaller measures so that the whole country does not have to close later ”.

The virus returned to nursing homes

According to D. Razmuvienė, the coronavirus is now spreading more rapidly in educational institutions, health care and entertainment venues.

“The virus has returned to nursing homes and social care homes. A new case was registered yesterday at the Kaunas University Hospital. <...> A new case has been registered in the Marijampolė Special Social Care Home and measures have been taken to carry out tests in all the wards, ”said the epidemiologist.

According to D. Razmuvienė, there are currently 3 main fireplaces in Vilnius, one of them is a dance studio, with which 71 cases are related in Vilnius. According to the epidemiologist, dance studios had already been contacted in September to limit the number of participants and adhere to stricter rules, but this was not done.

“Spread to other institutions, educational institutions, services, families. Secondary and tertiary cases were registered. It means that isolation is vulnerable, “said D. Razmuvienė.

Another great fireplace is the Elektrėnai hockey competition, 46 related cases, of which 36 were recorded in Vilnius.

According to D. Razmuvienė, the virus also travels through sports clubs, from one to another and is thus transmitted.

“It just came to our knowledge then. Currently, 6 people are known who visited a bar in Vilnius Old Town and another 3 who visited another bar. After finding out where they visited, <...> There are already 14 bars of this type that they have visited. It is difficult to say if it can spread there. It’s really not true to think that you can’t spread it in bars, “said D. Razmuvienė.

Municipalities will be evaluated differently

K. Garuolienė announced that they will change the criteria to identify high-risk municipalities.

High-risk municipalities will be those with a 14-day morbidity rate of more than 50 per 100,000 inhabitants and where the percentage of positive tests on all tests carried out is higher than 4%.

The vice minister also said that during the second round of the elections, those in isolation will be able to vote in certain designated places. However, those with coronavirus will not be able to vote.

9 import cases

On Thursday, the NVSC reported that 111 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection (COVID-19) were recorded in Lithuania during the previous day in the counties of Vilnius, 58 Šiauliai, 39 Kaunas, 28 Klaipėda, 7 Panevėžys, 5 Marijampolė, 4 Telšiai and 3 Alytus.

After contact with people confirmed by coronavirus, epidemiologists estimated that 169 people were infected. In addition, 9 import cases were recorded during the last day, of which 4 from Ukraine and 1 each from Germany, Belgium, Poland, Norway and France. At that time, specialists were unable to identify the circumstances of the infection in 77 people.

107 cases are associated with outbreaks

On the last day, cases related to chimneys were registered in educational institutions in Vilnius County: 9 cases are related to the Vilnius “Žemyna” kindergarten, 6 – to the Jonas Basanavičius gymnasium in Vilnius, 2 – to the Progymnasium Martynas Mažvydas from Vilnius, and it is estimated that 2 cases are related to the Rudamina “Rytas” gym in the Vilnius district. Another 3 cases are related to the outbreak at the Švenčionėliai King Mindaugas gymnasium in Švenčionėliai district, as well as 3 cases at the Pabradė “Žeimena” gymnasium in Švenčionys district.

Another 4 new cases of coronovirus in Vilnius county are associated with the outbreak at the Foreigners Registration Center in Pabradė, 3 cases are associated with the outbreak in the SOS Children’s Village in Vilnius and 4 cases are related to the outbreak in the Lithuanian Armed Forces.

1 new case of coronavirus infection is associated with the “Sanatorija” bar in Vilnius Old Town, as well as 1 more case, with the “Bardakas” bar. In addition, during the evaluation of the routes of the infected people during the last day, it can be seen that the people visited various places of free time – bars, cafes, clubs.

3 cases in Kaunas County are related to the Department of Cardiology at LSMU Kaunas Hospital, 4 – to Blinstrubiškės welfare residences located in Raseiniai district (3 wards and 1 employee), 2 more cases are related to dead bodies held in the Ringaudai armory (Tabariškės funeral home). Furthermore, 2 cases in Kaunas County are estimated to be related to the outbreak in the Vaižgantas progymnasium of Kaunas University of Technology.

Yesterday, 7 cases of coronavirus were recorded in Lioliai welfare home located in Kelmė district (Šiauliai county), people were prophylactically examined (a total of 13 cases were recorded: 12 wards and 1 employee) . 9 new cases of COVID-19 were registered in the Joniškis Social Services Center, and cases related to the Joniškis Saulės Basic School Day Employment Center are still registered: 2 related cases were registered last day, as well as 3 cases of Joniškis GMP-related infection were confirmed.

In Klaipėda county, 2 cases are related to the outbreak at the Klaipėda Vydūnas gymnasium, 2 cases are related to the Kartena branch of the Kretinga Cultural Center.

In Telšiai county, 3 cases of infection are associated with the choir rehearsal, which took place on October 6.

In Panevėžys County, 1 case related to the outbreak was registered at the Pasvalys Police Station, as well as 1 case related to the outbreak at the Antanas Gudaitis Aviation Faculty of the Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.

In Alytus County, Case 1 is associated with an outbreak in Druskininkai Township, Marijampolė County, with an outbreak in Marijampolė Special Social Care Homes. NVSC reports that yesterday’s tests were performed on 39 residents of these houses, test results are awaited.

The circumstances of the infection in 77 people are unclear.

Currently, epidemiologists have not yet been able to determine how 77 people were infected. Epidemiological studies have shown that people did not travel abroad and did not interact with confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Specialists examine the routes of these infections, so the statistics can still change if links are found between individual cases.

In Lithuania, the 110th death from coronavirus

NVSC reports that information about the death from coronavirus was received last day from the Kaunas Hospital of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. Currently, the infection has claimed 110 lives.

The person is a resident of Tauragė County. The person belonged to the age group 90-99, had chronic diseases. The coronavirus was confirmed in one person on October 11. During the epidemiological diagnosis of the outbreak, specialists were unable to determine how the person was infected.

NVSC reports that a total of 6,760 cases of COVID-19 disease have been confirmed in Lithuania, 3,635 people are still ill, 2,983 have recovered.

According to D. Razmuvienė, 174 people are currently being treated in hospitals due to COVID-19, in the intensive care unit – 17, artificial lung ventilation is applied in 9 and there are 80 people in the hospital with oxygen masks.