The Latvian government announced on the 29th that it will impose curfews during the New Year and Orthodox Christmas and extend the state of emergency to deal with the coronavirus epidemic.
At a press conference held after the government meeting on the same day, Latvian Prime Minister Karinth announced that the whole country will impose curfews from December 30 to January 4 next year and from January 8 to 10 next year to reduce face-to-face contact and prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. He appealed to people to spend the holiday at home and avoid gathering with relatives and friends.
Latvia’s Minister of Health Winkle said that more than 1,000 people are currently hospitalized for COVID-19, and medical staff are seriously overloaded.
According to the regulations, residents are not allowed to leave home from 22:00 to 5:00 the next day during the curfew. At that time, hundreds of soldiers will assist the police in enforcing the curfew.
On the same day, the Latin government also decided to extend the state of emergency originally scheduled to end on January 11 next year until February 7 next year.
According to the data released by the Latvian Center for Disease Control and Prevention on the 29th, Latvia added 838 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on that day, with a total of 37,676 confirmed cases; 25 new deaths, with a total of 603 deaths.
