From Thursday, 21 October until 15 November residents in Latvia will be able to leave their household at night only for emergencies, as stated in the amendments passed by the Cabinet of Ministers to the state of emergency.
During the period of time all stores, except for ones selling goods of first necessity, will be closed. Only vital services will remain available.
After 20:00 households will be allowed to walk their pets only in the immediate vicinity of their homes.
Police urge residents to take their pets for walks before 20:00. If they are unable to do this by this time, they will be allowed to walk pets only in the immediate vicinity of their home.
Only one person at a time will be allowed to take pets on a walk.
If residents act responsibly police will be understanding as well, as reported by Latvian State Police.
During the lockdown restrictions will be in place to limit the freedom of residents from different households to meet with each other. This is intended to reduce the overloading of the country’s healthcare system.
To reduce illegal gatherings at private events, the government decided to prohibit residents from leaving their homes from 20:00 until 05:00. It is only permitted for residents to travel to and from work during the curfew.
Considering that education facilities play a major role when it comes to the spread of Covid-19 infection, it is planned to transfer all secondary schools to distance teaching for the time being.
Face-to-face education is planned to be restored gradually. 1st to 3rd graders will restart normal school life 1 November 2021.
All hobby group activities and out-of-class activities will remain banned until 15 November. In kindergartens it is planned to preserve activities for children whose parents are unable to work from home. All vocational and higher education is to be carried out via distance teaching options.
From 21 October until 15 November any private events involving more than one household are prohibited. The same applies to protests and processions, meetings and other events involving many people from different households. Services that are not vitally important are prohibited and only stores that sell goods of first necessity are permitted to remain open during this period of time. Sports, attractions and entertainment services involving inventory rent are also prohibited.
Exceptions for restrictions on gathering options apply for funerals and situations when minimal gathering is absolutely necessary.
Funerals are permitted to be organized outdoors only.
Additionally, no more than two persons who are not members of the same household are permitted to be in the same car. This does not apply to workers of critically important services on duty.
Amendments to the state of emergency state all residents are not allowed to leave their home at night between 20:00 and 05:00 unless for an emergency.
Exceptions extend to people travelling to and from work or to perform their official duties. Residents are, however, permitted to go out to receive vaccination services, including Covid-19 vaccination, veterinary services for their pet or go to a 24/7 pharmacy. Persons on they way to an airport, sea port, railway station or travel to or from a bus station are also permitted to move around at night.
However, even in these cases of exception residents will need to fill out a form with their name, surname, personal code, address, the reason for leaving their place of residence, the time and where they work, as well as their employer’s contact information.
Taxi services will remain available during the curfew.
During the period of lockdown (21 October-15 November) entertainment, beautification and services involving physical activities are not allowed to be provided, as decided by the government.
Additionally, entertainment, gambling, betting, attractions, aqua park activities are also prohibited for the duration of the lockdown.
Business activities related to beautification, welfare, leisure, physical activities, sports, tourism (except for accommodations and foreign travel), photo and video services (except for photo production and mass media purposes), face-to-face consultations, and group hunting are also prohibited.
Minister of Education Anita Muižniece proposed excluding accommodation services from the list of permitted services. However, most ministers objected. The agreed to discuss more accommodation regulations in more detail at the next government meeting.
Business operations that are not under special requirements are permitted to be provided individually only.
All public services are to be provided remotely. Exceptions apply for services that do not require customers to be present for longer than 15 minutes or if the service providers and customer both have a valid Covid-19 vaccination or recovery certificate.
Curfew, stores closed shut and other epidemiological restrictions imposed in Latvia
