In view of the increasing spread of the particularly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus Latvia extends health emergency. By resolution of the government in Riga on Thursday, the special regulation imposed in autumn 2021 for three months in the Baltic EU country will now apply until February 28. Associated with this are restrictions for non-vaccinated and vaccinated people. The state of emergency would have ended on January 11th.
The Latvian government also decided a validity period for corona vaccination certificates. A single vaccination with Johnson & Johnson will now be valid for five months, for all other approved vaccines it will be valid for nine months. Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins announced that the basic immunization could be renewed with a booster vaccination.
In Latvia, as in many other countries, the omicron variant of the coronavirus is on the rise. Since the first case was detected in December, the number of positive corona tests has clearly increased again. With 1994 new infections within 24 hours, the highest value since the end of October was recorded on Thursday. At that time, the Baltic state was in lockdown because of one of the highest infection rates in Europe.