Postponing restrictions to October 11 will bring health care system to extreme overload - Dumpis

RIGA - Postponing the new restrictions to October 11 will bring the health care system to extreme overloas, said University of Latvia professor Uga Dumpis in a Twitter post.

He said that this will result in severe consequences for patients and the exhausted medical staff.

"It is hard to understand why the three Baltic states have politically selected one scenario when the victory was so close," the infectologist said.

As reported, the government today adopted the new Covid-19 regulations that will replace the current Cabinet of Ministers regulations No. 360.

The new regulations will make the epidemiological requirements and restrictions simpler, more understandable, at the same time, providing that representatives of certain jobs will have the duty to get vaccinated. The regulations also describe the services that can be provided only to people with valid Covid-19 certificates or negative tests.

The new regulations provide that vaccination is required in jobs in the education sector, including in preschool, elementary and secondary education, higher education, informal and teacher training programs, for students in colleges and universities, and service providers in education who are in contact with students and pupils.

The new regulations provide that all indoor services, except for essential services, such as postal or medical services, will be provided in the "safe" or "partly safe" environment with valid Covid-19 certificates or negative Covid-19 tests.

Latvia confirmed 1,203 new Covid-19 cases and six persons died of the coronavirus infection in the past 24 hours, according to information released by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).

Latvia's cumulative 14-day number of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 population rose from 427.4 to 454.1.