Latvian Minister of Health Daniels Pavļuts has proposed for the government to agree on a plan to reduce Covid-19 restrictions, which can be done in three steps. This plan includes, for example, lifting currently closed sectors of the economy to reopen again, as well as lifting the requirement for Covid-19 certificates in stores, as reported by the ministry’s representatives.
Pavļuts believes the Omicron Covid-19 wave should be faced safely, responsibly and in a simple and comprehensive way. This is why the minister invites partners of the coalition to agree on a plan to reduce safety measures in order to gradually lift bans and make life a little easier for affected sectors of the economy.
‘At the same time, the government needs to keep in mind that the situation in healthcare remains very complicated and a drop in infection rates is expected around the second half of February,’ says Pavļuts.
He reminds that efforts to lift safety measures started with schools, where the epidemiological situation has stabilised. Starting from next week children will be the focus of efforts to lift restrictions – from 14 February onward students and teachers listed as contact persons to a confirmed Covid-19 patient will not longer have to self-isolate.
‘It is also planned to start lifting restrictions for pre-school, hobby group and letting children attend without presenting Covid-19 test results from 16 February onward. Safety zones will not apply to children. They are also planned to be allowed to go to green zones without restrictions,’ said the minister.
At the same time, students and teachers will still have to under go regular Covid-19 testing.
The minister of health plans to implement so far the largest reduction of restrictions from 1 March onward. This includes letting currently closed sectors of the economy, such as night clubs and attractions, to reopen again. The plan also proposes lifting ventilation, distance and remote work requirement, which will become a recommendation rather than an obligation. The politician also proposes cancelling the requirement for resident to present a valid Covid-19 certificate in stores. At the same time, similarly to Lithuania, the requirement for stores to provide at least 15 m2 of space for each customer will remain in force.
The politician recommends increasing the number of people allowed to attend organised events – from 500 to 3 000 people – and not registering them. There is also the proposal to increase the permitted number of people at private events – up to 50 for indoor events and from 20 to 100 people for outdoor events. No specific sizes of groups are planned for amateur activities, sports and education.
Read also: Official: Covid-19 certificate requirement will likely remain for some sectors in Latvian
For the tourism sector it is planned to maintain a minimum of EU requirements – permit non-essential travel from all countries with a Covid-19 certificate or negative Covid-19 test result without the requirement to self-isolate.
At the same time, the minister also proposes maintaining the requirement to wear medical masks or FFP2 respirators indoors, as well as use Covid-19 certificates in environments under increased infection risk, such as situations in which larger crowds of people gather and it is not possible to control their distancing, such as night clubs, attractions, sports, amateur activities, catering, religious events, and customer services.
If the situation in hospitals becomes stable and no more than 25 daily hospitalisations of Covid-19 patients are observed, the government may lift the remaining restrictions on 1 April, the ministry reports.
Latvian Minister of Health proposes letting closed sectors to reopen in March
