This summer has seen the sharpest increase in Covid-19 cases to date, said Jurijs Perevoščikovs, director of the Department of Risk Analysis and Prevention of Infectious Diseases at the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (SPKC), in an interview with Latvian television.

This is confirmed by both Latvian and foreign data, he stressed. The new Covid-19 variants are also able to circumvent previously acquired immunity to a certain extent, he admitted.

He explained that the virus is constantly evolving and that this summer there has also been an increase in new Covid-19 variants.

He stressed that fighting the virus will probably take a long time. Two to three virus outbreaks are to be expected in a year.

The latest surveillance data shows that one in five samples tested positive for Covid-19, suggesting that the situation is similar to that of early January, he explained.

The expert assumed that a person with symptoms characteristic of Covid-19 most likely has Covid-19.

In the week before last, 83 patients were hospitalized for Covid-19. This is quite a big increase, as there were 70 cases the week before, said Perevoščikovs.

Most of the patients being treated in hospitals are over 65 years old. However, the overall occupancy of hospitals is not comparable to that of the last winter months, the specialist explained.

He also announced that nine people with a confirmed diagnosis of Covid-19 have died in the last two weeks.

For now, Perevoščikovs is urging people to follow the usual measures. First, stay home if you are sick and stay home as long as you have symptoms, plus three additional days. If it is necessary to leave the house, he is urging people to wear a face mask or respirator.

The specialist also advises people at high risk for complications to consider the need to visit crowded places or places with poor ventilation.

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