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8 pm 45 min. Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė and ministers decided at a remote government meeting whether to ban flights from Britain, where a rapidly spreading new strain of coronavirus is rampant.
VIDEO: Government meeting on 20-2020
The prime minister told a meeting on Sunday that the three Baltic states unanimously agreed to suspend all passenger flights from the UK.
“We have a pretty tough situation with the coronavirus. We know that the number of cases is increasing, the burden on the hospital system is increasing dramatically and, in fact, the development of these services already means a decrease in the availability of services for other patients, other services. We must do everything possible to protect both our healthcare system and the people who work there, ”said Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė.
Transport and Communications Minister Marius Skuodis told the meeting that the time from which the flights were suspended was chosen in such a way that there was no need to capsize the planes in mid-air. The ban will go into effect on December 21. 04:00 and will last until December 31. 24 hours
“This is a decision based on the decisions our neighbors have made or are making, or those who are in transit,” he said.
M. Skuodis also confirmed that flights to the UK will not be banned.
“If necessary, but not recommended, you can definitely go. This applies to UK passenger flights to Lithuania from all airports,” explained the Minister.
“People who plan to travel tomorrow morning may have problems,” M. Skuodis told the meeting.
Three more planes will fly from London, which will take effect in London until 4 o’clock: Ryanair, LOT and Wizz Air Airlines. Tomorrow, at 4 am, 5 planes from the UK had to fly to Lithuania, but these flights will have to be canceled.
According to Health Minister Arūnas Dulkis, many countries have restricted contact with the country as a new mutation in the coronavirus has been identified in the UK, possibly linked to a faster spread of the virus.
“So far, there is no information that definitively confirms that this strain of the virus is more susceptible to infection or more difficult to contract.” So far, there are no unified recommendations from international organizations, including the World Health Organization, for countries to take action in this regard. However, the parties make decisions quickly and make their own decisions, “he said at the hearing.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, from December 14 at 1 p.m. until this Sunday at 1pm. 3,485 passengers arrived in Lithuania from Great Britain in 2006: 2,139 people arrived at Vilnius airport and 1,346 at Kaunas airport. passengers.
At a meeting of the Government Emergency Commission (WESC) convened on Sunday, it was decided to propose the suspension of passenger flights from Great Britain to Lithuania.
With the spread of a new strain of coronavirus in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy have already banned flights from that country. Latvia and Estonia also plan to act, and Poland plans to make a decision on Monday.
“At the commission meeting, the decision was made to suspend all passenger flights to Lithuania and submit such a proposal to the government,” Minister A.Bilotaitė told the media on Sunday evening.
BNS announced that several European countries announced this Sunday the ban on air travel with the United Kingdom (UK). Germany, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Romania, the Netherlands and Belgium have stated that they intend to ban flights from the UK.
Rome and Berlin announced Sunday that they would stop flights to and from Britain from midnight.
Office of Charles Michel, President of the European Council (EC) kicked off a meeting on Sunday about the situation in the UK with the spread of a new, more contagious strain of coronavirus.
Susan Hopkins of Public Health England (PHE) Sky News confirmed information provided by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the new virus strain may be 70 percent. more contagious.
Johnson announced on Saturday that residents of London and the south-east of England would not be able to leave their homes without the necessary need to curb the spread of a new strain of coronavirus.
He called for new restrictions to be imposed in London and south-east England from Sunday, with “fourth level rules” in place in the region, “whose people must stay home” until at least December 30.
The SNB reported a record rate of coronavirus infection in the UK, with 35.9,000 confirmed cases in the last day. new cases of COVID-19, according to a report on the British government information website.
Just over 27,000 were found on Saturday. new cases of this infection, and the previous daily record of diseases was recorded on December 17 – 35.3 thousand. new cases.
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