Lithuania's top public health official Robertas Petraitis has refused to resign, despite Health Minister Arūnas Dulkys calling on him to step down following mistakes in keeping track of the country's coronavirus-related death toll.
Petraitis, head of the National Public Health Centre (NVSC), “does not agree [to resign]”, Aistė Šuksta, the minister's spokeswoman, told BNS on Monday.
The top official has come under fire after it emerged that over 1,000 coronavirus-related deaths had not been included into the official statistics.
Read more: Lithuania's public health body chief asked to resign over Covid-19 statistics mess-up
Petraitis said this had happened because of hospitals' failure to provide the center with information in a timely manner.
Last week, Dulkys called on Petraitis to step down and gave him until Monday to decide. The minister then said he would have "to look for another way" and take "more bureaucratic action" if the director refused to resign.
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