First steps to stop a pandemic

The World Health Organization declared a global pandemic of the new coronavirus on 11th March 2020. However, even before the official announcement of the pandemic, actions had been already taken in Lithuania.

Although there were no cases of coronavirus infection in Lithuania in February, the government declared a state-level emergency at the end of the month due to the threat of the virus. Very soon, on 16th March, a decision was made to declare quarantine in the whole country.

Following this example of rapid response to the situation, the ministries adopted other resolutions that helped to control the situation in Lithuania and started preparing various recommendations. For example, the Ministry of the Interior has introduced temporary internal border control, prepared recommendations to municipalities and other institutions on how emergency services or work organization should be carried out.

Much attention was paid to medical institutions which had the greatest workload. Initially, 5 hospitals of the country were prepared to receive patients for COVID-19 testing and treatment: Vilnius University Hospital Santara Clinics, Clinic of Infectious Diseases and Children's Hospital, Kaunas Clinical Hospital, Klaipėda University Hospital, Republican Hospital of Panevėžys and Republican Hospital of Šiauliai.

According to Mindaugas Kanapickas, Deputy Director of the Fire and Rescue Department, protection measures from the state reserve were allocated to various organizations. ‘We, as a service, did not rush to make large purchases and reserves. However, if we were to speak as managers of the state reserve, we supported the five largest Lithuanian hospitals with protection measures from reserves - for example, we provided respirators and other necessary equipment for doctors.

No one paid attention whether it was day or night, we supported medical institutions with a considerable amount of measures. Over time, more tools became available, which were purchased by different institutions according to their needs,’ said M. Kanapickas.

According to the information of the Government Chancellery, given the insufficient number of personal protective equipment in the state reserve in January, there was an urgent search for a place to buy personal protective equipment, medical equipment, and laboratory reagents for COVID-19 infection. In March, the government has allocated EUR 1.24 million from the state reserve for the Ministry of Health for coronavirus prevention.

As the Government Chancellery stated, such an operative response has significantly contributed to the control of the spread of the virus in the country. This can be seen by comparing the respective indicators of Lithuania, the European Union and the European Economic Area member states. Lithuania was included in the top ten countries with the lowest number of detected virus cases.

According to the number of deaths, Lithuania is also among the top ten countries with the lowest number of deaths. This high rate reflects both the concentration of society and the professional actions of medics.

Global quarantine - what's next?
Straight after the quarantine was announced, various decisions on the control of the coronavirus pandemic followed. The work of ministries, municipalities and other public sector institutions has been reorganized to a remote mode, and a plan of measures to stimulate the economy and mitigate the consequences of the spread of the coronavirus has been prepared.

The state’s education system, social environment, administrative and public services, cultural sector, foreign trade, economy, labour market – these were the areas identified by the government as potentially the most affected by the crisis caused by the pandemic.

As the negative effects of the crisis on the economy and the labour market spread very fast, the Economic Promotion Plan, with a budget of EUR 5 billion, was launched in March. The plan aims to help preserve jobs and maintain the income level of the population, as well as help businesses to promote the economy.

‘The adoption and implementation of the Economic Promotion Plan is a crucial step in helping workers and businesses to meet short-term challenges. States are encouraged not only to develop pandemic virus management plans, but also to adapt to irreversible changes in various areas of the state - new realities - strategies,’ the Government Chancellery spoke about the preparation for various scenarios.

In addition to this plan, the Government has implemented other strategic plans, such as the COVID-19 Management Strategy Implementation Measures Plan, the DNA Plan of the Future Economy, and the COVID-19 Management Strategy Communication Plan.

These coronavirus management strategy plans were created to manage the pandemic in the country and to adequately prepare for new potential waves of the virus in the future.

Information of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania