Number of coronavirus cases in Latvia rises to 398

A further 22 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Latvian territory, raising the total number of cases from 376 on Monday to 398 on Tuesday.

The new figure was released by the Disease Prevention and Control Center (SPKC) which said 500 tests had been conducted during the previous 24-hour period.

In total 14,807 tests have been carried out since February 29.

27 patients are in hospital, most of whom have moderate symptoms of the disease but three of whom are in a serious condition.

You can read [in English] the current emergency regulations introduced by the government to tackle the spread of coronavirus at the government website. As reported by LSM earlier, the regulations were further extended following a government meeting March 29, enforcing a two-person, two-meter rule for physical social interactions.

There is also a dedicated official COVID-19 website with a variety of relevant information and contacts available in Latvian and Russian.

The SPKC has information in English about the approved methods of protecting yourself from the disease, symptoms and medical procedures and an interactive map plotting the incidence and distribution of the disease in Latvia.

Latvian State Police said that during the last 24 hours they carried out 1,227 checks related to non-compliance with emergency measures, as a result of which 24 incidents have been recorded. They repeated a plea that people who had returned from abroad should remain in self-isolation, suggesting many of those 24 incidents were probably the result of people not following quarantine rules. "Don't be a risk to yourself and others, and stay at home," police urged. 

At a Tuesday morning press conference, police chief Andrejs Grišins said police were working hard to inform people and where necessary enforce the new two-person, two-meter rules on public gatherings. He urged people to comply with the rules and suggested that parents should take time to explain them to children and stress their importance, to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Meanwhile police patrol cars with loudspeakers have been driving through residential areas informing people of the new rules.