Around half a million people in Lithuania may have had coronavirus – minister

  • 2021-01-18
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – Around half a million people in Lithuania may have had asymptomatic or mild forms of COVID-19, Health Minister Arunas Dulkys said on Monday. 

"We could forecast that about half a million people have had the virus. Now we (officially) have about 168,000," he told members of the opposition Social Democratic political group in the parliament.

Everyone eligible for vaccination is tested for antibodies before they received their shot and the results show that around one-fifth of people have had the virus, according to the minister. 

"We've seen over the last month that around 20 percent of people who register for vaccination test positive for antibodies and aren't vaccinated," he said. 

Over 46,000 people in Lithuania have received the first jab of coronavirus vaccine so far.