Of 96 tested Covid-19 samples, 8% were the UK variant, and experience from other countries shows that this contagious type of virus is spreading very rapidly and is soon becoming dominant. And this means that the question is not whether, but when the outbreak of the disease will happen again in Latvia, said the Minister of Health Daniels Pavļuts at the government meeting on Tuesday.
Jurijs Perevoščikovs said that the proportion of the highly contagious type in samples was 1% in Week 5 of this year, 3% in Week 6 and 8% last week.
He acknowledged that taking into account the experience of other countries, it is possible that in approximately four weeks this type will prevail in Latvia.
Perevoščikovs also acknowledged that Latvia's exit positions are worse than other European countries, where the incidence is significantly lower. In Latvia, it is one of the highest in Europe. With 509 cases per 100 000 inhabitants, last week Latvia was 6th in the EU.
Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, commenting on this information, pointed out that “the expected result can be very damaging to our country” and, if we do not act more carefully, we can put the country in great misery.
