Lithuanian PM expects coronavirus situation to be clearer in 2 weeks

  • 2021-01-06
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte says she is cautious in assessing the COVID-19 situation, adding that is too early to say if the country is already past the peak of the pandemic. 

Simonyte expects a clearer trend to be visible in two weeks' time. 

"I can't say in which direction we are moving today," the prime minister told reporters on Wednesday. 

"It's critical for us to wait this week and next week. It won't be until the end of next week, after we've had two full working weeks, that we'll be able speak about the dynamics, not about the static picture that we have today," she said. 

"I'm very cautious about the situation," Simonyte said, noting that a slight decrease in daily coronavirus cases after the year-end holidays was due to lower testing.

Simonas Krepsta, a presidential adviser, said earlier on Wednesday that the country could have been past the peak, but the situation remained difficult. 

He added, however, that it was too early to draw any definite conclusion. 

The government plans to discuss on January 17 whether to relax the stringent lockdown restrictions and lift the current ban on non-essential travel across municipalities.