At the moment Latvia cannot afford lifting Covid-19 restrictions, said director of the Emergency Medical Service Liene Cipule in an interview to Latvijas Radio.
The specialist stressed that Omicron variant of Covid-19 cannot be considered mild when compared to the previous virus variants. This means there is no reason to consider reducing restrictions. It is the opposite – Latvia needs to be especially careful.
According to Cipule, the main objective at the moment is making sure that even if all of Latvia’s society goes through Omicron infection,
it is necessary to make sure the wave is not uncontrolled and does not overload the healthcare system.
Last week hospitals in Latvia felt the full weight of consequences of the holiday, when people were admitted to hospitals more actively after a period of calm. During this period of time hospitals were forced to open up more beds. Fortunately, the situation is not yet critical.
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Ambulance workers have observed a trend when Omicron mostly passes without symptoms, when infection is found in people who were hospitalised with other diseases or injuries.
The number of severe Covid-19 cases «remains stable», which, according to Cipule, also proves this variant cannot be considered milder than Delta.
The spread of Omicron among NMPD workers does not cause major problems at the moment. However, it is not impossible for problems to appear in the future, says Cipule.
Cipule: we cannot afford lifting Covid-19 restrictions at the moment
