The government has refused to limit the opening hours of cafes and bars, but there will be other demands

“It has been decided that the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Economy and Innovation will meet with the associated structures on Monday and seek solutions to ensure compliance with security requirements that will be stricter than usual without prohibiting or restricting their activities. agencies, “said the Prime Minister during the government meeting. .

“If these requirements are met, it is likely that the Minister of Health will provide the Government with other decisions. Otherwise, we will have to look for other alternative ways of handling the situation in these institutions in a preventive manner,” he added.

When asked why the government abandoned plans to reduce the opening hours of restaurants and entertainment venues, the prime minister replied that this would cause businesses to close.

“Reducing the working hours of some of these types of institutions means closing that business,” said Skvernel, reiterating that other measures would be sought to ensure the safety of people in them.

“We are talking about the mandatory maintenance of social distance – the main thing, the proposal will be to limit the number of people, or link it to square meters, so that there is really no congestion, crowding of people and [būtų] distance, use of protective equipment, masks, disinfection ”, suggested S.Svvernelis about what could be expected in public catering and entertainment establishments.

According to him, the ventilation systems of institutions can also be inspected.

If the measures do not work, S. Skvernelis did not rule out the possibility of limiting the number of people at the events or banning them entirely.

If we see that the situation does not work, we will have to limit the number or ban these events entirely.

“We really don’t want to go back to those times where we have to strictly prohibit, control and punish everything. “If we see that the situation is not working, it is getting worse, and there is no responsibility, it is gone, then there will be no other way: it will be necessary to limit the number or ban those events altogether,” he said.

Previously, the Cabinet of Ministers planned to allow catering establishments, restaurants, cafes, bars, nightclubs and other entertainment venues, gambling houses (casinos), slot machines and bingo halls to operate only from 8 to 24 hours.

An exception was intended:

• when food is delivered to be taken away or given to people by other means;
• when catering is provided to employees of companies, establishments or organizations in which shift work is carried out on the premises of such companies, establishments or organizations.

The Interior Ministry, which presented a proposal to reduce the working hours of the institutions, explained that this was necessary to control the spread of COVID-19 in them. The changes were said to have been coordinated with the Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association.

It is true that they did not receive the support of the Lithuanian Bar and Cafe Association and the Vilnius Night Alliance. Organizations believe that working time restrictions would discriminate against a specific industry and that the restrictions should only apply to establishments where safety breaches are recorded.

Opportunity to attend the funeral of loved ones.

However, decisions on the emergency regime during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic were made by the government on Wednesday. The Cabinet of Ministers has established the possibility for the children of foreigners from third countries who are married or have entered into an association agreement with Lithuanian citizens to come to Lithuania, as well as for foreigners to enter without obstacles to the funerals of their relatives .

“In practice, the number of such cases is increasing, and the provision of entry due to necessary family circumstances is also set out in the recommendations of the European Commission on travel restrictions under COVID-19 conditions. The conditions of entry (exceptions for isolation, testing requirements) must be adjusted by the decisions of the operations manager, ”the Interior Ministry said in the letter.

At present, foreigners from third countries can only enter Lithuania with the separate consent of the Government.