Latvia, Markets and Companies, Medicine

She acknowledged that in the spring, even with the much lower prevalence of Covid-19 in the country, a significant reduction in planned and outpatient health care was necessary to enable medical institutions to prepare and to protect the medics themselves from infection.

However, at present, a suspension in the provision of such services is no longer permissible, as it could have negative consequences for public health, the politician explained. "Perhaps, if necessary, the flows can be reduced, but we do not plan to halt such medical services as we did in the spring," the minister said.

The politician noted that in recent months, hospitals have significantly increased their readiness to receive Covid-19 patients. At the same time, she noted that the age structure of people admitted to hospital is changing. "If in the spring they were mostly elderly or very old people, then now we also have people in the 40-45 age group, and this is just a confirmation that Covid-19 is unfortunately a dangerous and very contagious disease," said Vinkele.