The coronavirus pandemic and quarantine forced people to stay at home and posed serious psychological challenges to society. Stopping normal activities and changing habits resulted in more anxious, depressed, apathetic society. Forced home closure has also led to an increase in domestic violence both against children and women.

As the numbers of coronavirus infections increase, the government has taken new measures to control the virus. From now on, municipalities are marked in green, yellow and red according to the COVID-19 morbidity indicators. Meanwhile, the countries of the European Union are divided into four groups according to the traffic light principle.

Lithuania's power transmission system operator Litgrid said on Monday it had been informed by Belarusian operator Belenergo that power production at the Astravyets nuclear power plant would be launched on November 1-10.

With the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, false news about the virus is spreading on the Internet, and conspiracy theories are being developed. Widespread misinformation misleads people - it becomes unclear which information is reliable and which is not. Interviewees advised on how to distinguish truth from lies, where to look for reliable information, and how to critically evaluate it.

With the rapid deterioration of the coronavirus situation in the country, the government has taken additional measures and restrictions to stop the spread of the infection. The updated Government Resolution shortens the working hours of catering establishments, changes the principles of compiling the list of affected countries, and establishes mandatory registration of visitors to leisure, entertainment, catering and other places.

The number of coronavirus infection cases has increased and the hotspots have expanded recently. Therefore, epidemiologists acknowledge that the second wave is already in Lithuania. It has to be mentioned, that it has not yet begun in major cities, but it is already noticeable in the regions. According to National Public Health Center representative Rolanda Lingienė, the biggest difference when comparing it to the first wave is that nowadays the infection is most commonly detected in young people.

Coronavirus patients who feel no symptoms after 10 days will be considered recovered from COVID-19 and released from self-isolation, the Health Ministry said on Friday, October 16th.

While the government, municipalities, medical and other institutions were deciding on how to stop the spread of coronavirus, no less important solutions were sought for educational institutions as well. Transferring lessons to the virtual space posed many challenges, but the practice showed that remote learning is not scary at all. There are even thoughts that after the end of a coronavirus pandemic distance learning could continue in case of a need, for example during extremely cold weather, heat or influenza epidemics.

The pandemic has shattered the plans of almost all the people: border controls were restored, the number of flights was significantly reduced and the restrictions introduced in the seaport limited the possibilities of citizens to travel. When the situation improved last summer, the list of countries from which people could come to Lithuania became longer, but the number of cases has started to climb again, and therefore the possibility to travel is again unclear.

Rising numbers of coronavirus infections are worrying. People are asking questions about whether this is already the second wave of the pandemic and, if so, what to expect from it. Specialists are intensively looking for solutions on how to best control the situation and are reassured that certain lessons easing the collision with the second wave have already been learned. Meanwhile, remote working, frequent hand washing and disinfection, wearing a mask, and other practices have become commonplace and should be followed.