VILNIUS, Jun 22, BNS – BNS provides an overview of key weekend news on the coronavirus in Lithuania:
The spread of the virus. Six new coronavirus cases have been confirmed over the past weekend, including four in Vilnius County and two in Siauliai County. Two of the new cases are related to an imported case, with two members of a family catching the virus from a person who has returned from Russia. The remaining four cases have been recorded in Vilnius: three of the four persons got infected from other family members and one – in the social environment. The new cases include a teacher who has been working remotely and, in recent days, has only had several brief contacts with pupils, which are not deemed dangerous. Meanwhile, Latvia and Estonia have recorded no new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours.
Fines. The Lithuanian police fined more than 3,000 people for flouting the quarantine rules during three months of lockdown. The most frequent violations included gatherings of more people than allowed under the lockdown requirements, failure to comply with self-isolation requirements or to wear a facemask, police spokesman Ramunas Matonis said. Also, the law enforcement authorities opened 13 pretrial investigations for alleged violations of Criminal Code regulations pertaining to the fight against epidemics or communicable diseases.
Key coronavirus-unrelated news:
* The popularity rating of Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda fell to 60 percent in June, from 75 percent in March, according to the latest Vilmorus survey published by the Lietuvos Rytas daily on Saturday. Nauseda’s popularity rating had plunged due to his low visibility in the public during the lockdown, Vladas Gaidys, head of Vilmorus, explained. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis and Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga, who have been in focus since the beginning of the country’s fight against COVID-19, continued to enjoy elevated popularity ratings, of 43 percent and 36 percent, respectively. As regards political parties, their popularity ratings remained broadly unchanged, with the opposition conservative Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats keeping the title of the most popular party with 14.3 percent, followed by the ruling Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union in the second place with 13.4 percent and by the opposition Social Democratic Party in the third place with 9.1 percent.
* Public trust in the media has tanked to the lowest level in the history of observations since 1998. Pursuant to the survey, 30.7 percent of respondents expressed trust in the media in June whereas 29.1 percent expressed distrust. According to Gaidys, this was a normal situation in line with the trends prevailing in the European Union where people tended to be critical of the information published in the media.
* Lithuania will seek to promote its attractiveness for tourists in several markets, including Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and China. Keliauk Lietuvoje (Lithuania Travel), a national tourism promotion agency, has opened search for representatives in these countries and has already signed respective contacts with Milan-registered Aigo, Travel Link Market from Beijing and Aviareps Tourism from Munich.
* Stanley Balzekas Jr., one of the most prominent figures of the Lithuanian community in the United States and Lithuania’s Honorary Consul in Florida, died at the age of 95 on Thursday. The country’s top leaders and ministers extended their condolences on Friday and Saturday. Balzekas was awarded the Cross of Commander of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas and in 2019 – the Grand Cross of Commander of the Order for Merits to Lithuania.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 5 239 64 16, Vilnius newsroom