Covid-19. April 16

Due to the increase in the number of people vaccinated and immune to the virus and the decision to reopen various facilities, services in churches with the participation of the faithful across the country will resume on Sunday (April 18).

In all churches, there should be a distance between those praying so that one person should have at least 15 square metres of space.

Believers must continue to wear protective masks, disinfect their hands, and follow other safety requirements.
The mayor of the Vilnius region, Marija Rekst, said that vaccinations “have really started”. According to her, the municipality communicates with residents and tries to convince them of the benefits of vaccination.

According to her, research shows that in some localities, 30% of the inhabitants do not agree to vaccination, and in some – as much as 50% of the inhabitants.

“Our municipality is working hard, we talk, we look for ways to convince people because you can refuse, you can disagree, but we give good examples. We cannot bring people to be vaccinated if they do not want to, there are places where 30 out of a hundred people do not agree with being vaccinated, there are places where there are half of such people, but we will not give up and we will continue to work,” said Rekst.

Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė visited the vaccination centre in Nemenčinė on Friday (April 16). According to her, municipalities lagging behind in terms of vaccination are going “in the right direction”.

“I must praise both the Vilnius region and other places that I will visit today. We have indeed seen an increase in the number of vaccinations in recent days. Municipalities, as well as us, are also working, I think they also feel the interest and pressure from the society,” the Prime Minister told journalists after a meeting with the leadership of the Vilnius region municipality at Nemenčinė.

Šimonytė emphasized that the Vilnius region municipality is a huge area with a large number of inhabitants, so there are many challenges. The prime minister says faster vaccinations are needed to get more quarantine relaxation.
“But I think we’re going in the right direction,” she said.

Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė toured municipalities inhabited by national minorities – she visited the Vilnius, Švenčionėliai and Visaginas regions. All this to convince the inhabitants of these areas to be more active in vaccinating against the coronavirus.

After meetings with local politicians and residents, the prime minister promised that the government would pay more attention to information about the positive effects of vaccination in the languages of national minorities.
In Visaginas, the prime minister spoke Russian to those gathered at the meeting, which left quite an impression and was noted by the media.

“Dear Visaginas, I think we are all tired of living in conditions that seriously limit our daily affairs. Therefore, I am asking all of you to take advantage of the opportunity that science gives us and to protect yourself and your loved ones, as well as those around us from diseases and complications, and the whole community against these limitations, which, unfortunately, still apply,” said I. Šimonytė.