Covid-19. February 12

The bishops announced that from next Wednesday services with the participation of the faithful will be resumed in most Catholic churches in Lithuania.

“Seeing the great need to support the spiritual life of people and thus strengthen their faith, we believe that the time is approaching when, in accordance with all safety requirements, the celebration of the Eucharist will gradually resume from Ash Wednesday, February 17,” Archbishop Gintaras Grušas announced.

Services will not be held in several local governments with the highest number of coronavirus cases.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, services with the faithful were suspended from December 16.

“The authorities decide on the spheres of activity: they limit trade, the activity of beauty salons. This is the wrong approach. It is not a business that is a risk, but a probability of getting sick. Experts do not have to advise closing anything, but to think how to ensure the possibility of the economy functioning,” said Bogusław Grużewski, director of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Research, professor of Vilnius University, who was a guest of the “Political discussion club”.

“It is very difficult to compare the previous and present governments when it comes to fighting a pandemic. The pandemic came as a surprise to the Skvernelis government. However, roughly speaking, they enacted a lot of good solutions. It can even be said that today, they are better off than the present power. The government of Ingrida Šimonytė largely uses the solutions developed by Skvernelis’ team. However, it lacks a more systematic approach. They could be bolder and more effective. There is no flexibility, greater commitment and some kind of professionalism. One of such elements is the approach to all limitations itself,” added the professor.

Minister of Education, Science and Sports Jurgita Šiugždinienė said that due to the challenges of lockdown and distance learning, secondary school-leaving examinations will probably be postponed again this year, so this time should be used for intensive consultations.

“We are considering such a solution. We really want to see intensive preparation for exams and additional consultations if we approve certain postponements,” the minister confirmed in an interview with BNS.

According to her, it was decided not to abandon the exams after assessing the consequences of such a decision for the education system.

Šiugždinienė also said that the ruling bloc is launching a party agreement on education this week, in which they promise to heed from all political forces.

Over the past 24 hours, 468 new coronavirus infections have been detected in the country. 19 people died from Covid-19.

The number of deaths increased to 3,038. The cumulative infection rate during the last 14 days is 288 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Since the outbreak began, the number of infections has exceeded 189,000. 172,736 have recovered and are alive (121,775 people were declared), statistically the number of active cases of infection is 10,701, while the declared number is 61,682.

The Department of Statistics reports data according to the new methodology. Active cases of infection were divided into the statistical and declared number of patients. The statistical indicator is more reliable because the declared indicator also includes cases of people who recovered, but the GP did not confirm recovery for various reasons.

During the last day, 6,579 people were vaccinated with the first dose, the necessary second was given to 1,228 people. As of Thursday, the first dose was given to 90,963 people, two to 53,246 people.