Proposed Quarantine Changes: It will no longer be possible to swarm in five

Acting Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga, Chief of State Emergency Operations, and Daiva, Chief Specialist, Infectious Disease Management Division, National Center for Public Health (NVSC), spoke at a press conference Monday about how this It could affect the incidence of COVID-19 and ways to control the coronavirus. Razmuvienė.

You want to reduce the number of people who can meet

The acting minister announced new possible measures to manage the pandemic.

“We see that the number of cases is still high, we see, like last week, some stabilization trends, but we don’t really see a decrease yet. We consider that the situation continues to be very difficult.

The COVID-19 committee today discussed new potential pandemic management tools. It was proposed to reduce the number of people who are allowed to gather and gather in public places from 5 to 2 people, ”said A. Veryga at the press conference.

One of the reasons he is proposing to do so, according to the acting minister, is that various celebrations or events that are not officially called events attract a lot of people. For example, lighting a Christmas tree in Vilnius or Kaunas.

“It seems that it could have very similar consequences for the popular movement from November 1 to 2. It is very unfortunate that, despite all the information, people are not willing to act responsibly and choose to stay, watch the lighting of the tree of Christmas, ”said A. Veryga.

Call for more electronic purchases

Another proposal, made in the COVID-19 committee, is to prohibit the promotion of various promotions or sales.

“We hear announcements and invitations, and only at the end it is said that it can be bought and sent by email. In the store. This does not really help to handle the situation in the supermarkets,” said the acting minister.

According to him, the goal is to reduce the flow of people in supermarkets, in the hope that people are less encouraged to go to supermarkets.

Mr. Veryga requested that as many electronic purchases be made as possible and that the gifts not be sent by the guests but by mail.

The need to restrict movement between municipalities may increase

As Mr. Veryga said, there is no consideration yet to restrict movement between municipalities at Christmas. However, the need for such a measure may increase.

“There may be a similar need if the number of cases remains high enough before Christmas and Christmas. But this measure, whether adopted or not, will be decided by the new government,” said the interim minister.

The Minister was asked if there was a possible scenario where we would go so far as to have to choose which patients to treat.

“It is possible to reach such a situation, if we continue to meet at the Christmas tree inaugurations, we continue celebrating at home and doing similar nonsense, it is possible to reach everything. This has happened in many countries, ”said A. Veryga.

There may be an excess of vaccines

The interim minister also announced that a proposal to buy the Moderna vaccine would be presented to the government. This will be decided on Wednesday. Lithuania could receive around 500 thousand doses of such vaccines.

As in other countries of the European Union, there may be a surplus of vaccines in Lithuania. According to A. Veryga, Lithuanian diplomats are currently working with those countries that cannot join the joint procurement of the European Union.

“One of the first countries that responded and welcomed Lithuania’s proposal is Sakartvelas. The suggestion was that in case of exceeding the vaccines, they could buy them. If it was and if it was,” said A. Veryga.

Most die at home

A. Veryga also drew attention to the increase in mortality from coronavirus in Lithuania.

“We see that the total number of deaths increases. In spring it did not exceed the statistical average, now we see that mortality, unfortunately, is increasing.

The largest increase in deaths occurs in the age group 80 to 89 years. So far, we can only say that most of those deaths are related to cardiovascular disease, although not a heart attack, not a stroke, but the causes of deaths are not related to such sudden deaths.

We also see that the growth is largely due to deaths that occur at home, not in a medical facility, ”Veryga said.

The minister speculated that after the increase in deaths at home, he may lie and go undiagnosed combat deceased.

When asked by the acting minister why the number of deaths from COVID-19 is increasing so fast, Veryga replied that this was due to a widespread infection that is increasingly reaching older people.

“For some time now, we will see more than a dozen deaths, especially if the disease spreads in nursing homes, where, as has been said, at least 1-2 cases are diagnosed. Later, if it is not controlled, the disease can spread and there can be many deaths, “said A. Veryga.

I would suggest early school holidays

When asked if there was any intention to switch to distance learning, Ms Veryga replied: “This is exactly the point I raised today in the COVID Steering Committee, but it is an opportunity to take advantage of the upcoming school holidays from Christmas.

My suggestion was to think that the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports would think about advancing said license and for all grades, both primary and secondary, use that period as a fall break as a kind of break. Preschool institutions are difficult to stop because most workers could not go to work.

Today, the idea of ​​schools was expressed and must be evaluated by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports “.

One of the biggest outbreaks is in Marijampolė

Epidemiologist Daiva Razmuvienė briefly reviewed the latest outbreaks. According to D. Razmuvienė, one of the largest is in Marijampolė. 27 new cases of coronavirus were registered, which are related to cases previously registered in the Marijampolė penitentiary center.

Cases are also registered in medical, nursing and social care institutions.

“Yesterday, there were 3 new outbreaks: in Lazdijai district and in Kaunas Perloja nursing home,” said D. Razmuvienė.

Outbreaks spread to families

A representative from the NVSC also spoke about the results of the quarantine. According to her, several outbreaks in leisure facilities were recorded in September and October, which is no longer the case.

However, the outbreaks have now spread to families. According to the epidemiologist, family outbreaks currently account for about 30 percent. in all cases, so this trend is only growing.

D. Razmuvienė said that only about 2,000 cases were recorded in September, and in November up to 38,000 new cases of COVID-19.

“Nursing and care facilities are currently a cause for concern. Outbreaks are registered in all 10 counties. There is probably no nursing home where at least some cases are not registered,” said the epidemiologist.

In November, there was an exponential increase in deaths compared to the entire pandemic period. By November 1, 165 deaths from COVID-19 had been recorded since the start of the pandemic. In November alone, there were 340 new deaths.

November, according to the epidemiologist, was also distinguished by an increase in the number of deaths of people who did not belong to risk groups. The youngest dead was 30 years old.