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“The situation is still difficult, although we have stable figures and no growth. However, they remain large, which places a very heavy burden on the health sector,” Acting Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga said at the meeting. .
On Wednesday, the government decided to ban grouping of groups of more than 2 people unless family members are grouped together.
This prohibition will also apply in schools if the teacher works with small groups of students; You will be allowed to work with 2 children instead of 5. The same applies to non-formal adult education and non-formal vocational training.
This ban, like the others adopted on Wednesday, is expected to take effect on Thursday. Currently, it is forbidden to gather more than 5 people in public places.
Trade restrictions
On Wednesday, the Cabinet of Ministers also approved a ban on trading at temporary outlets in all stores, supermarkets and service points. The only exception is the trade in food products, pyrotechnic articles and commercial islands.
The prohibition applies to cases where the trade is not carried out in physically separate stores, but, for example, in common supermarkets, aisles and similar places.
Submission to the Government is motivated by the fact that at the beginning of the festive period, many businesses hold Christmas fairs, where large flows of buyers congregate and it is difficult to ensure compliance.
Recommendations for supermarkets
The Cabinet of Ministers agreed that businessmen should be advised not to use short-term sales promotion measures (sales, discount hours, tastings, etc.) in all stores, supermarkets, markets and other public outlets and service points, which to a certain extent increase the flow of buyers and visitors. in a short time and in a certain place.
The recommendation does not apply to online trading.
“If the measure were applied effectively, it would help avoid meetings,” said A. Veryga.
Š.Keserauskas: will the food be cheap?
The head of the Competition Council, Šarūnas Keserauskas, said at the meeting that the question arises as to what effect the recommendation to traders not to advertise stocks, sales and the like may have.
“As the documents show, the impact assessment must be taken into account,” he said.
The first effect, he said, could be an increase in raw material prices, as they would no longer benefit from discounts.
“The recommendation itself is vague enough and can lead to coordination between competitors, sellers and retailers to find out specifically, for example, which products cannot be discounted, in which places, for how long,” he said.
According to the head of the Competition Council, there is a risk that competition will be restricted also for those products for which the recommendation does not even foresee it.
According to Š.Keserauskas, the question is whether it is estimated how much the flow of people will decrease taking into account that we are at Christmas time.
It was asked whether it would not be the case that the discounts did not apply to food products. This could be to the detriment of people with lower incomes.
A.Veryga: these are just recommendations
A.Veryga replied that if the consequences of each decision were evaluated for a long time, no decision could be made.
“This is a very good recommendation, it was very similar in the spring, it did not prevent the application of discounts on food products. “It’s not a ban, it’s about things like the invitation to Black Friday, I don’t see any threat,” he replied.
S.Skvernelis: two yogurts for the price of one, virus free
Outgoing Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis responded that if he followed this logic, traders could announce the following: “Buy two yogurts for the price of one, plus you get the COVID-19 virus for free. That would be clear. ”
“When inviting massive sales, Black Fridays or Yellow Saturdays, the same should be said: a good price, but the virus is potentially free. Lottery: whoever is successful will not receive, will not receive. But it is possible to consider it ”, he ironized.
The acting Prime Minister also stressed that this was only a recommendation and urged traders to use common sense.
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