Latvia exceeds Covid-19 incidence levels when new restrictions should be introduced

RIGA - Latvia confirmed 237 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, according to information released by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

Five people also died of Covid-19 related symptoms on Monday.

Latvia's cumulative 14-day number of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 population rose from 117.7 to 125.8.

Of the people testing positive for the virus in the past 24 hours, 206 were unvaccinated or had not completed the vaccination course and 31 had been vaccinated.

Of the 41,310 Covid-19 tests carried out in the past 24 hours, 0.6 percent came back positive.

To date, Latvia has confirmed 142,637 Covid-19 cases and 2,578 people have died of the virus infection.

In the past two weeks, Latvia registered 2,312 Covid-19 cases, according to LETA's estimates.

Mass testing of students for Covid-19 got under way last week ahead of the new school year. Health Minister Daniels Pavluts (For Development/For) recently said that this would definitely raise the Covid-19 incidence in Latvia.

According to the Cabinet Regulations on Epidemiological Safety Measures for the Containment of the Spread of Covid-19 Infection, new epidemiological safety measures have to be introduced once the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases exceeds 100 cases per 100,000 population and reaches 120 cases per 100,000 population.

Changes in epidemiological safety requirements would concern the provision of services and the number of persons allowed to gather at once, such as sports activities, catering and retail.

However, unofficial information obtained by LETA suggests that a slightly different approach to the implementation of epidemiological safety measures could be considered at the government level than mentioned in the current regulations.