The Latvian government is preparing to consider restrictions on Lithuanian travelers

The meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.

Latvian Health Minister Ilze Vinkelė said that special conditions for traveling in the Baltic countries would be prepared for people studying or working in neighboring countries.

According to her, the stricter travel restrictions will not introduce new restrictions within the country.

“We can decide freer relationships with our neighbors, but this increases the risk that we will have to impose stricter restrictions at the national level as morbidity rates increase, which I don’t think our society really wants, because we now live lives almost normal with very few restrictions. ” I. Vinkelė told Latvian radio.

Restrictions can be introduced for Lithuania and Estonia, as morbidity rates have reached or approached the target limit for stricter entry: 16 cases per 100,000. population.

The exact details should be clear by Friday afternoon.

I. Vinkelė states that the higher incidence in Lithuania and Estonia may have been caused by the fact that these countries allowed international travel too freely.

By opening their borders a few months ago, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia agreed to strict rules for their residents traveling outside the Baltic states, but Estonia and Lithuania began “unilaterally, without even informing Latvia” of not following these rules, Vinkelė said. .

“They have started to fly much more freely, … they have introduced many more control formalities that seem strict, angry and political, but not very useful in terms of epidemiological safety, and here we are seeing results,” said the minister.

In his opinion, in Lithuania and Estonia, the political arguments outweighed the opinion of the specialists.

Lithuanian Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga said on Thursday there were discussions with the Latvian government about flights from the affected countries, but said he thought the allegations were unfounded.

“Perhaps the only comment is about flights from the affected countries, but we have a very strict procedure for those who come from the affected countries, people have to isolate themselves, they have to come with tests no longer than 72 hours, if they are not our citizens . , our citizens can do it here ”, said A. Veryga.

“And because of some particularly strict measures, I don’t know what Latvians are talking about, because you can probably name two measures, which we don’t have and Latvians have: two meters, the distance is smoother, we have one meter in many places. distance, and another measure is the time of night catering, such institutions can work with them for up to 24 hours, “said the Lithuanian minister.

Official statistics show that in Latvia, the spread of the coronavirus is the slowest in the European Union. Finland has better rates than Lithuania and Estonia, while there are more cases in other countries. The worst situation in the EU is in Spain, where 231 cases have been registered for every 100,000 cases in the last two weeks. population.