In fulfilling the task of the Cabinet of Ministers, in order to restrict the spread of Covid-19 the Acting Minister of Economics, the Minister of the Interior Sandis Ģirģens has issued an order ordering traders throughout Latvia to ensure additional security measures at points of sale:
traders, including trade centres, markets and places for organising of street trade, must place a clearly legible indication in visible places to urge visitors to be socially responsible (at least at the checkout or at the entrance to the place for organising of trade) and keep a two-metre distance from the visitor in front of them in a queue in the checkout area; traders with a trading area above 100 m2 in the checkout area should ensure a two-metre distance between visitors in a queue using delimiting marks; a message in Latvian should be played on a regular basis, every 15 minutes, urging buyers not to stay in the trading premises unnecessarily and to follow the guidelines about keeping distance. An economic operator may choose other foreign languages in addition; to the extent possible, other measures should also be implemented to limit the flow of people at trading places, which would facilitate compliance with the recommendations of the Ministry of Health regarding the limitation of the spread of the Covid-19 virus, as well as following the recommendations published on the website of the Ministry of Economics.
“It is important to follow precautionary principles in order to avoid further spread of the virus as far as possible and not to overload national safety and health services. I highly appreciate the risks to which our responsible services are exposed every day, and I therefore call on the population of Latvia to be respectful and to follow all the distancing instructions in good faith,” emphasises the Acting Minister of Economics, the Ministry of the Interior Sandis Ģirģens.
In order to support traders in meeting the new requirements, an audio file with the message has been published on the website of the Ministry of Economics urging traders to download it and use it freely.
Similarly, recommendations for traders and buyers have been published on the website of the Ministry of Economics to help smaller traders introduce additional safety measures.
As it is known, on March 14, the Cabinet of Ministers instructed the Ministry of Economy, in cooperation with traders, to prepare proposals for measures to ensure social distancing in trading places with a view to limiting the spread of the Covid-19 virus.