There are already 21 municipalities in the red zone: Veryga said he would change in them

– As of Monday, 21 Lithuanian municipalities have been included in the red zone. What will change in them?

– Those municipalities that were included in the list of quarantined municipalities last week apparently are ready, ready. In addition to the national restrictions that have come into effect, such as nightly catering, entertainment hours, and a two-week break in primary and secondary education, there are additional restrictions on overcrowding in those municipalities: no more than 5 people can gather in places public, adequate distances should be maintained for these groups. There are also certain requirements for public transport: long-distance buses leaving from these municipalities must maintain distances from the metro and only carry seated passengers. Visiting patients, except critically ill or children under 14 years of age, or mothers is prohibited, as is the prohibition of visiting social care institutions to prevent the introduction of the virus. These are the main limitations.

– Does anyone change to wear masks?

– There are no significant changes due to the use of masks. Only to the extent that, under quarantine, the person becomes the main person responsible for it, that is, that obligation has already been imposed, does it cease to be the main concern of the company to which it goes. But the masks remain in all closed public spaces where customers are served. I did not mention that there are requirements for the people who come to the outlets, the places where the services are provided, that is, an area of ​​10 square meters per person. This means that you will have to transmit the following ones, be careful that there are not many. If such an area cannot be provided, no more than 1 customer should be served. Masks should be everywhere, unless it is simply not possible to provide the service with a mask, or a child or disabled person who cannot use the mask, or it may make their health worse.

– Isn’t it intended to make masks compulsory outside, not only in closed public spaces?

– It is not thought yet, because being outside of yourself, if people do not get together, if it is not some kind of event or meeting, but simply passing through the street, then being without a mask does not create a high risk. Of course, there is another nuance: remembering that you need to have that mask, put it on, put it on. When you have to wear it all the time, apparently there are no things that people forget, maybe not put somewhere, get lost. But until now there has been no such consideration.

– A particularly large jump in new coronavirus cases was reported over the weekend, with more than 1,000 new cases, of which 603 new cases were reported on Sunday alone, although it was not specified where the infections were detected. Do you know what caused such a high number of cases?

– I do not know yet. This morning, almost everyone will join in and the National Center for Public Health (NVSC) will present the data. There were problems Sunday, with incomplete data released in the morning, just over 400. As some cases were not confirmed by the NVSC, it is natural that some of the information on where those cases were identified was not yet available. They are only data that come from laboratories, they are new and unique cases. Until we know where they were placed, to whom, or if they are some type of chimney, specifically in cities, we will have to wait a bit. Today we will have that information.

– Perhaps we are already thinking about the national quarantine, because a minority of municipalities remains in the green zone?

– Maybe about one that was in spring and didn’t think. But it may happen that, well, the municipalities end up in the red zone one after another and we have that national quarantine. Only insofar as currently, as long as there are municipalities where the spread of the disease is very low, it is hardly worth limiting the population to the same degree or extent.

But of course the challenge now will also be our next memorable dates as people move on. That is, if the safety requirements are not met, those green municipalities can turn red very quickly. All the more so since these are small municipalities and even a small number of cases can very quickly worsen the situation in them.

– What about scheduled treatment services? Are they already restricted somewhere? Are there plans to limit them?

– There is no insurance or special instruction to limit scheduled services. I really think it will not be presented. There are only, as I said, bans and restrictions on patient visits, that’s important. And other restrictions are not due to some kind of restriction, but to the fact that the situation can arise when, after isolating medical personnel, there may simply be no one to provide services to, and there it stops or takes a while . Alternatively, treatment facilities are expanding the number of “cow” patient beds as the number of patients increases. Naturally, as the disease spreads in society, more and more people also need inpatient services. These facilities are simply expanding the number of ‘cow’ patient beds and, of course, where it is expanding, to those rooms that were not previously used to treat infectious diseases, other patients will no longer be placed on a scheduled basis. But these will be really different services in different regions because different departments or hospital bodies suit these patients.

– What about dental services?

– So far, they are not restricted. Clearly, you have to be careful when giving them, especially the staff. But now we know what tools to use and hopefully dentists actually use those tools and protect themselves and their patients from the spread of disease.

– Did you investigate the coronavirus after it turned out that you were infected by Valerijus Simulikas, a parliamentarian who was already present at the Seimas session?

– No, I haven’t investigated yet, but I’m going to investigate. I’m not doing research on it. Only prophylactically, members of the government are investigated from time to time. This should not be attributed to my colleague V. Simulikas. We met him a couple of times in passing. This is not considered a contact that needs to be investigated, especially since I actually wear a mask and disinfect my hands all the time in the Seimas, so it is not considered high risk, there is no need to investigate. But knowing how widespread the virus is in society, it is necessary to investigate it prophylactically, especially for those who have to gather from different sectors in one place, and for members of the Seimas, especially. And in the Seimas, apparently, it will be necessary to rethink the organization of work to reduce the number of contacts as much as possible.

– Do you intend to move to Seimas work remotely?

– Apparently it probably won’t go out remotely, but the Seimas will have to take on additional security requirements.

What municipalities entered the red zone?

From October 26 to November 1. Inclusive, based on the principles of the new traffic light, eight more municipalities in the country are included in the red zone: the municipalities of the city of Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, as well as the district municipalities of Vilnius, Kaunas, Širvintos, Šilalė, Trakai and Telšiai.

To control the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), municipalities in the red zone must not only follow the recommendations and instructions of specialists, but can also decide on the issuance of local quarantine.

Currently, 21 municipalities in the country are included in the red zone, 26 in the yellow zone and 13 in the green zone.

The Ministry of Health recalls that, taking into account the recommendations of international organizations, at its meeting last Wednesday, the Government approved the division of municipalities into three zones according to epidemiological indicators: yellow, green and red.

The green zone means that the risk of coronavirus is low in municipalities that fall into it, and that no additional restrictions are required for municipalities that meet this criterion. The green zone includes municipalities with a morbidity of less than 25 cases per 100,000. The percentage of the population and the number of positive tests per week is less than 4%.

The yellow zone means that municipalities within it must be prepared and responsibly follow the recommendations of public health experts to control the further spread of the coronavirus. The yellow zone includes the municipalities where the incidence does not exceed 50 cases per 100,000. population and positive tests equal to or greater than 4%. or morbidity 25-150 cases per 100 thousand. less than 4% of the population tested positive.

The red zone includes those municipalities where morbidity exceeds 50 cases per 100,000. population, positive tests – 4 percent. and more, and the proportion of cases not related to outbreaks or outbreaks is 30 percent. or more per week, or those with a morbidity greater than 150 cases per 100,000. the proportion of population and cases not related to outbreaks or outbreaks is 30%. or more per week, that is, at least 10 cases per week must be registered with the municipality.

Municipalities are evaluated according to three criteria: a 14-day morbidity rate of 100,000. the percentage of the population that tested positive between the percentage of tests performed within 7 days and the percentage of cases not related to outbreaks or outbreaks within 7 days.