Latvian health ministry head calls for strict lockdown due to coronavirus

At a meeting of the Crisis Management Board, Latvian Minister of Health Daniels Pavluts will call on the country’s authorities to introduce strict restrictive measures that will reduce the number of contacts in the company by at least 40%, informed press service of the Latvian Ministry of Health. According to the agency, the current restrictions call for a reduction in the number of contacts of only 5 to 10%. At the same time, on October 11, a state of emergency was declared in Latvia for a period of three months.

In particular, the Ministry of Health proposes to restrict all sports, entertainment, cultural, amateur, public, religious and recreational gatherings and events. Indoors and outdoors, it is planned not to allow more than ten people from two households to meet.

The minister proposes to transfer to teleworking all, except those employed in the production, in the construction, in the critical infrastructures and ensuring “the continuity of the public functions”. It is also recommended to extend distance education for schoolchildren by an additional three weeks. At the same time, intramural educational and extracurricular activities will be held in a traditional format. Preschools will continue to accept children whose parents are required to work full time.

In addition, Mr Pavluts proposes to reduce the working day to six hours and to institute a curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. It also advocates a stricter application of restrictive measures.

According to the Latvian Ministry of Health, given the rate of spread of COVID-19 in the country at the end of October, 4,000 new cases of coronavirus infection and 275 hospitalizations per day are expected. “In this situation, it will not be possible to provide the necessary treatment to everyone, and the number of deaths from COVID-19 will increase dramatically,” he said. The department says the number of deaths from the coronavirus over the past week has increased by 48%.