COVID-19 Cases Soar, Lithuanian Hospital Stops Accepting Non-Emergency Patients

ILLUSTRATION/UNSPLASH

JAKARTA - Two of the three largest hospitals in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, have stopped accepting non-emergency patients as COVID-19 cases are on the rise, the executive director of a hospital said.

A number of hospitals in the area around Vilnius were also full, Jolita Jakutiene, executive director of the city's largest hospital, told a news conference.

Most of the COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated and over 30 years old, he continued.

"The situation is critical. The number of COVID-19 patients is increasing every day," the head of the local city's health department, Viktorija Turauskyte, told Reuters.

So far, about 71 percent of adults in Lithuania have received the full vaccine. That figure is close to the EU's 74 percent average, according to the bloc's health data.

Lithuania reported the worst number of infections in the European Union for the two weeks to Sunday, at 864 new cases per 10,000 population.

Lithuania recorded the third highest death rate during that period, after Bulgaria and Romania, with 120 deaths per 10,000 inhabitants.

The government of Lithuania's neighboring Latvia canceled most planned operations at hospitals from Monday due to the high demand for beds and staff as COVID-19 cases soared.