Latvia must brace for serious resurgence of Covid-19 in fall - health minister

  • 2021-07-30
  • LETA/TBT Staff

RIGA - As in-person schooling resumes and people spend more time indoors, the more transmissible strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus will bring a serious resurgence of Covid-19 cases in September and October, Health Minister Daniels Pavluts (For Development/For) told journalists Friday. 

"For the time being the situation is still manageable, but I think that in the worst case scenario infections might start growing sharply already in the next couple of weeks," the minister warned, adding that "we should be prepared for a serious increase in Covid-19 incidence which is likely to follow in September". 

The minister also noted that there are still family physicians that do not vaccinate their patients against Covid-19. Pavluts said that the family physicians that have contracts with the state might be obliged to administer the vaccines in order to solve the problem. 

Asked what effect he expected from the lottery for vaccinated persons, which the government approved on Friday, Pavluts did not give a concrete prognosis, saying that it is necessary evaluate the combined effectiveness of all measures that are taken to encourage people to take the jab.

As reported, the government at an extraordinary meeting on Friday approved the Health Ministry's proposal to organize a lottery for persons who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in a bid to boost Latvia's lagging vaccination rate.

The bill on the vaccine lottery with a prize fund of EUR 720,000 will now be sent to the Saeima for adoption.