Travelers coming to Lithuania from non-OECD countries and non-European Economic Area (EEA) will be subjected to mandatory Covid-19 testing, the government decided on Thursday.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), includes most of the European Union member-states, but also the countries in North America, Turkey, Australia, Japan and South Korea. The US has been reporting some of the highest numbers of new infections in recent weeks.
The European Economic Area (EEA) includes EU countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
The government also said a requirement to self-isolate the arrivals may be imposed by Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga if the coronavirus situation in the country deteriorates.
The move follows an outbreak in a Kaunas transportation company, Hegelmann Transporte, where 18 truck drivers, most of them workers who came from Uzbekistan in early July, were diagnosed with the coronavirus.
“The case of infected persons from Uzbekistan in Kaunas has clearly shown that we need to improve the procedure for foreign arrivals to Lithuania,” Skvernelis posted on Facebook.
Mandatory facemasks may return
Moreover, Lithuania's Covid-19 committee asked Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga to set a threshold at which wearing facemasks would be made mandatory again.
“I want to emphasise that we are talking about the situation as it is now,” he wrote on Facebook. “The epidemiological situation in Lithuania is and will continue to be constantly monitored and if it deteriorates, the requirements and rules will change.”
Skvernelis also commented on Wednesday's media reports that one of the infected Uzbek drivers at the Kaunas transport firm was threatening to infect others.
“I want to make it very clear. We will not tolerate such threats [...]. Such persons will have their visas revoked and will be deported from Lithuania,” he wrote, adding that police are investigating the case in Kaunas.
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