The Ministry of Health (MoF) is urging Spain, France, Italy and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to require a pre-arrival Covid-19 test, according to a post on Twitter on Minister of Transport Far Linkait (JKP).
As before, tests will continue to be required on entry from Denmark, the United Kingdom and Sweden.
Meanwhile, the requirement for a mandatory test is planned to be abolished for immigrants from Belgium, Ireland, Norway, Germany and Russia, reports Linkaits.
The information provided by the Minister shows that the Ministry of Health has assessed morbidity rates when selecting specific countries. The requirement for new countries could take effect on 12 January and be fixed for all countries on the list until 23 January.
As before, until January 23, the VM encourages the validation of an RNA test performed within the last 72 hours or an antigen test performed within the last 48 hours, and the test result is negative and must be presented before boarding the vehicle.
Responding to Twitter’s “Twitter” post, Minister of Health Daniels Pavļuts (AP) pointed out to the Minister of Transport that the selected countries were the ones from which the most cases of Covid-19 omicron were imported to Latvia.
“Far away, you could just call me if there is no clear epidemiology. (..) So we have the longest government in the history of Latvia,” Pavluts writes.
In its position prepared by the Ministry of Transport (MoU), it questions the VM’s proposal. The MoU refers to the EU Digital Covid-19 Certificate Regulation, which states that additional restrictions on persons with an interoperable certificate should only be applied on a temporary basis in order to curb the increase in morbidity and the spread of new, particularly dangerous strains of the virus.
According to the information provided by the MoU, the regulation emphasizes that when local morbidity increases, such transport restrictions are not effective.
“Such restrictions do not stop the movement of passengers, but encourage them to choose other transit routes, not to declare their true travel routes, including transit through Lithuania and Estonia, where there are no restrictions on entry, regardless of the country of departure. No self-isolation required. No negative test required also from third countries outside the EU Green List and countries with a cumulative rate above 75, “considers the MoU.
According to the MoU, “therefore the list of selected countries from which it is planned to require a test for all passengers (including an interoperable certificate) is questionable, as the restrictions set will not fulfill the originally defined task of limiting the spread of new virus variants”.
The Ministry emphasizes that the prevalence of Covid-19 omicron is not significantly different from the selected list of countries in all countries except Spain and Great Britain, “therefore, it can be stated that insufficient risk assessment methods have been used to determine the selected list of countries”.
“Latvia already has a very negative experience with the publication of weekly lists, after which countries were included in risk lists, flights were banned, or self-isolation was required, etc. This had a devastating effect on aviation and additional support was needed for airBaltic. mistakes that have clearly shown how devastating they can be without epidemiological benefits, “blame the MoU,” the benefits of requesting previous tests from selective countries do not outweigh the losses. The price we pay for these restrictions is expensive. “
According to the MoU, any flight restrictions can be effective if they are implemented in a coordinated manner across Europe or at least in coordination with Lithuania and Estonia, while flight restrictions or additional unilateral barriers do not address the epidemiological situation but harm the industry and the economy.
According to the current version of the Emergency Order, which is currently in force until 11 January, a negative Covid-19 test must be reported when entering from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, Germany and Russia.
Tests should be performed on both Covid-19 vaccinated and non-vaccinated individuals.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously indicated that such a requirement is necessary, taking into account the prevalence of the omicron variant in European countries and the travel habits of the Latvian population.
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