Lithuania may avoid further lockdown tightening if situation remains stable – PM

VILNIUS – Lithuania may avoid further tightening of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions if the situation in the country during the Easter period and beyond remains stable, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said on Wednesday. 

"If we do our best to celebrate the holidays safely and without too much risk to each other, and if there's no major strain on the health system, which is more or less stable now, (...), then I believe that the government may be able to avoid some very special or tough decisions," she told a news conference. 

The prime minister noted that the rate of testing has increased recently and "is growing to the levels we had at the end of last year". 

"The numbers we see every day – 11,000, 12,000, 13,000 (tests) – give us hope that other   measures will help us manage the situation, too,” she said.

Currently, the epidemiological situation in Lithuania remains "more or less the same as it was yesterday and the day before yesterday", Simonyte said.

Coronavirus infections keep rising in the eastern part of the country and the epidemiological situation elsewhere remains better, but it is worsening, she noted.

The government has reinstated the ban on non-essential travel between municipalities for the Easter weekend.