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According to data from the Department of Statistics, the worst situation is currently in the districts of Panevėžys, Kupiškis, Biržai, Švenčionys, Šalčininkai, Varėna, as well as in the municipalities of Kalvarija and Marijampolė. The Minister of the Interior, Agnė Bilotaitė, explained that it would be forbidden to enter and leave these “black” municipalities without an important reason.
“Our suggestion would be that, although the movement among all municipalities should be liberalized, in the case of ‘black’ municipalities or with a significantly higher incidence, there should be a restriction on entry and exit from these municipalities,” he said. .Minister.
Movement restrictions in Lithuania, with the exception of the municipalities included in the “black” list, would cease to exist as of March 16. The decision has not yet been approved by the government on Wednesday.
It is true that the list of “black” municipalities where movement restrictions would be maintained as of next week may still change, since the situation will be assessed only on Sunday, according to the latest data. “Based on this, it will be decided to which group which municipality belongs,” said A. Bilotaitė.
At the same time, the Minister of the Interior was pleased that, despite the launch of the quarantine, the situation due to COVID-19 in Lithuania has stabilized and is “slightly improving”, and the country is once again experiencing a negative growth of the pandemic.
The scope of testing is not satisfactory, but an additional incentive may arise.
When examining the possibilities of releasing quarantine restrictions in separate municipalities, due to the unequal situation of COVID-19 in them, A.Bilotaitė has alluded to the need to double the scope of the tests. According to the minister, although little progress was seen last week, it is still not enough.
“We see that there are still up to four municipalities where the test volumes are less than 1 percent. and only 11 municipalities where test volumes are 2 percent. Therefore, we request and urge the municipalities to activate this process and there are certainly opportunities for the municipal leadership to encourage the companies, institutions and administrations under their control to carry out tests more actively.
It is also more active to get involved in outbreak control, which is really very significant and important, ”said A. Bilotaitė.
According to the Minister, for the municipalities to feel a greater incentive for the Government to improve the situation, certain “bonuses” could appear due to the relaxation of quarantine in the municipalities that demonstrate good performance.
“In some municipalities, we are really seeing an improvement and there is a suggestion to look for incentives that provide some incentive for municipalities where the number of morbidity and positive tests is significantly better. They would get extra bonuses, related to the release from quarantine, “said A.Bilotaitė.
The incentives they could expect are not yet known
However, what concrete releases could await the most advanced municipalities, the minister has not yet been able to answer. According to her, this requires further discussion.
“Everyone agrees that the motivation and separate regimes should be, but agreeing on concrete measures for what they should be to avoid creating and preparing centers of attraction, which requires more detailed and in-depth discussions,” he said.
A.Bilotaitė also mentioned that the topic of the pilot opening of cultural institutions was presented at the WESC meeting. The minister considered that cultural institutions could be opened first in municipalities where the situation is better due to the coronavirus, but that will have to be decided by the Government.
At the end of February, the government extended the quarantine until the end of March and the control of movement between municipalities until mid-March, except for ring municipalities.
