Covid-19, March 12

Over the past 24 hours, 355 new cases of coronavirus infection have been confirmed – 241 fewer than the day before.

There have been 7 deaths – 2 less than the day before, the Statistics Department said this morning.

In the last two weeks, per 100,000 inhabitants, the incidence is 222.9. During the last 24 hours, 3,923 tests for the presence of the virus and 197 for the presence of antibodies were performed.

The percentage of positive diagnostic tests in the last seven days is 6.4%.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 204,356 people have been diagnosed in Lithuania.

Statistically, over 190,000 have recovered. (declared: over 146 thousand).

Statistical number of active cases – 6,827 (declared 50,920).

Seven European countries have suspended vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Post-vaccination fatalities have been reported in Denmark and Austria. Does this mean we should be concerned over this vaccine? “We are more likely to be hit by a meteorite than we are to experience serious side effects,” says Polish virologist Dr. Tomasz Dzieścitkowski.

Denmark stopped vaccinating its citizens with the AstraZeneca vaccine after serious blood clots had developed in several people who had been vaccinated, and one of them died.

Earlier, Austria made a similar move. There, a 49-year-old nurse died after receiving a vaccine from this company, and another woman developed a pulmonary embolism and is convalescing. Vaccinations with this vaccine were also suspended in Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Latvia.

On Wednesday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said there was no evidence linking AstraZeneca to the two Austrian cases. EMA also said 22 of the more than 3 million people vaccinated by March 9 had developed a blood clot.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is also used in Lithuania.

The Ministry of Healthcare (SAM) plans to start vaccinations for all comers in late spring. However, the ministry is not yet able to give an exact date.

However, the registration procedure will change – once mass vaccination begins, people will have to register for it themselves, writes Kauno Diena.

“Every citizen will be able to register for vaccination on esveikata.lt. People who do not use a computer or do not know how to register on the internet will be able to do it by phone, calling a medical facility,” Lukas Galkus from the Ministry of Healthcare explains.

“The sooner a person signs up, the sooner he or she gets the vaccine. Others may have to wait because the doses are not enough to meet the needs of every citizen,” he added.

According to him, when vaccinations for people over 65 years of age are over, they will be started for younger and chronically ill people.

The European Commission on Thursday approved the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson.

“New, safe and effective vaccines are appearing on the market,” wrote Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, on Twitter.

“We have just approved the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the European Union. This year we can vaccinate up to 200 million people in the EU with it,” she added.