In the light of the statement by the World Health Organization of 11 March 2020 that COVID-19 has been confirmed as pandemic and based on Section 4, Paragraph one, Sub-clause ‘e’ of the Civil Protection and Disaster Management Law, and Section 4, Section 5, Paragraph one, Section 6, Paragraph one, Clause one and Paragraph two, Section 7, Paragraph one and Section 8 of the Law on Emergency Situation and State of Exception and Section 3, Paragraph two of the Epidemiological Safety Law, in order to determine the epidemiological safety and other measures:
1. Emergency situation shall be declared throughout the national territory from the moment of the adoption of decision to 14 April 2020 with a view to restrict the spread of COVID-19 during the validity of emergency situation.
2. The Ministry of Health shall be appointed as a responsible authority for coordinating the activities during the emergency situation.
3. The responsible authorities shall be detemined as co-responsible authorities in line with their competence.
4. During the emergency situation:
4.1 The state and local government institutions shall assess and ensure, as far as possible, the remote provision of on-site services.
4.2. preschool education institutions and institutions that ensure childcare services shall ensure the work of on-duty groups so that in the event of necessity the provision of preschool services could be ensured to parents who cannot ensure childcare themselves. In order to attend pre-school educational institutions, parents shall submit a written statement to the pre-school educational institution once a week informing that the child and family have not visited any foreign country over the past 14-day period and have not been in contact with COVID-19 affected persons, and parents do not have any other possibility of providing childcare.
4.3. on-site learning shall be terminated in all educational establishments by providing remote training. The State centralised examinations shall be terminated and sitting for the examination in foreign languages shall be ensured during the period from 12 May to 15 May 2020.
4.4. all types of on-site extramural education process shall be interrrupted, including in all cultural, sports vocational and interest-related education programmes (trainings, competitions and rehearsals);
4.5. public gatherings for festivals, remembrance, entertainment, culture, sports, and recreation (including at night clubs and discotheques), public meetings, marches and rallies (in accordance with definitions provided in the Law “On public meetings, marches, and demonstrations”) as well as religious activities and gatherings shall be cancelled and prohibited regardless of the number of participants thereof.
Ad hoc gatherings at particular venues, including those related to culture, entertainment, sports, and religion, to no more than fifty persons shall be restricted. The opening hours of cultural, entertainment, sports, and recreational venues shall be determined to be no later than 23.00.
4.6 The tourism service providers shall have to offer to postpone and not plan tourism trips to COVID-19 affected countries and areas, which require special precautions after returning, in accordance with the information published on the website of the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
4.7 Business trips and missions to the countries and territories affected by Covid-19, which require special precautions after returning, shall be cancelled, postponed and not planned, as far as possible, in accordance with the information published on the website of the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
4.8 It shall be ensured that persons with symptoms of acute respiratory infection are not employed in work involving potential risks to the health of other people (in accordance with Cabinet Regulation No. 477 “Regulations regarding Work Involving Potential Risks to Health of Other People, and Procedures for Carrying out Mandatory Health Checks” of 24 July 2018).
4.9 Health institutions, social care institutions and detention centres shall retrict visits of third persons, except with a permit of the head of institution with a view to provide the core functions.
4.10. the rights of prisoners specified by law may be limited in accordance with the decision of the Head of the Prison Administration, incl., by envisaging a possibility of the procedure of conditional release of convicted persons prior to completion of punishment performed by prisons and the State Probation Service, as well as determining the extension of deadlines for its performance;
4.11 The individuals shall be called on to refrain from foreign trips.
4.12 Persons and contact persons who have returned from the COVID -19 affected country or territory shall take special precaution measures, including:
4.12.1 The state of health shall be observed for 14 days after leaving that country or territory by measuring the body temperature twice a day (in the morning and in the evening).
4.12.2 113 shall be called immediately in case of any signs of acute respiratory infection (rhinitis, cough, throat inflammation, increased body temperature, respiratory problems).
4.12.3 Shall perform self-isolation in the place of residence (home quarantine) and should be reachable for communication and cooperation with a family doctor and other medical staff. These requirements shall not apply to employees of transport and passenger transport service providers who return from business trips and missions if they do not have any signs of acute respiratory infection and have not been identified as contact persons;
4.12.4 The state of health shall be observed.
4.12.5 Other persons shall not be exposed to the risk of infection, by seeking to reduce direct contacts with other people (not to receive guests, avoid public places, institutions and not to have private visits, etc.);
4.12.6 Individuals shall stay in place of residence and not go to work, public places, places with a large number of people, not use public transport as far as possible.
4.12.7 One of the following options for purchasing essential goods or food shall be used:
4.12.7.1 home supply by avoiding contact with the supplier;
4.12.7.2 the supply of food or goods with the help of relatives who leave them at the door;
4.12.7.3 sssistance of the social service of the local government shall be sought by avoiding direct contact with the social worker;
4.12.7.4 In the absence of any other solution, an individual shall visit the shop with a medical mask at the time when there are fewer people in the shop, by taking a distance of two metres from the shop's visitors and vendors and observing the hand and cough hygiene.
4.13. enterprises in which the Ministry of Health has ownership, including the State Emergency Medical Service and the medical of in-patient clinical facilities, first responders of the State Medical Emergency Service that are not medical professionals, as well as the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the State Revenue Service, and the personnel of the Defence Ministry and Foreign Ministries, shall be permitted to allow for over-time work in accordance with the Labour Law that does not exceed 60 hours per week. Personnel of the Ministry of Health shall be paid for over-time work that is necessary through additional funding upon request from the state budget programme “Resources for unforeseen circumstances”. The Ministry of Health shall request the additional financial resources required to pay for over-time work from the state budget programme “Funding for unforeseen circumstances".
4.14 enterprises, the State Emergency Medical Service, the Provision State Agency, the State Police, the State Fire and Rescue Service, the State Border Guard, the Ministry of Interior’s Information Centre, the State Revenue Service, the Foreign Ministry and the Defence Ministry shall be permitted not to apply the Law on Public Procurement for goods and services in the process of ensuring supplies necessary for mitigating and preventing the spread of COVID-19 and in order to provide the appropriate medical treatment and organise measures and actions in this regard. Ministries shall make estimates of the additional resources required to pay for the said deliveries and request them from the state budget programme “Funding for unforeseen circumstances”.
4.15 the responsible ministries shall restore material reserves of the State and organise the purchase of additional goods to ensure the implementation of national and health measures, by exceeding, if necessary, the amounts specified in the State Material Reserves nomenclature. The ministries shall keep registers of the additional financial resources needed to cover the costs of the aforementioned acquisitions and request them from the State budget programme “Funds for Unforeseen Events”;
4.16 international passenger transport through airports, ports, by bus and rail transport, other than passenger transport by State aircraft and military transport, shall be cancelled from 17 March 2020. The Minister for Transport shall be authorized to make exceptions regarding the performance of international passenger services. The Minister for Transport shall take a decision upon the receipt of the relevant request;
4.17 the movement of persons and vehicles through airport, port, railway and road border crossing points at the European Union’s external border, as well as at border crossing points intended for local border traffic, other than freight transport, shall be banned from 17 March 2020. The Minister for the Interior and the Minister for Foreign Affairs may make exceptions to the movement of persons and vehicles;
4.18 the nationals of the Republic of Latvia and foreigners whose habitual residence is the Republic of Latvia shall be authorized to return to the Republic of Latvia through the border crossing points referred to in Sub-paragraph 4.17 of this Order;
4.19 the foreigners shall be authorized to leave the Republic of Latvia through the crossing points referred to in Sub-paragraph 4.17 of this Order;
4.20 the foreign diplomats working in Latvia, as well as persons arriving in Latvia for humanitarian reasons and to pursue national interests, shall be authorized to enter the Republic of Latvia and leave the Republic of Latvia through the border crossing points referred to in Sub-paragraph 4.17 of this Order;
4.21 short-term and long-term visas for entry to Latvia shall not be issued for Latvian diplomatic and consular missions abroad, as long as the emergency situation exists;
4.22 the Ministry of Economics, in cooperation with traders, shall introduce the measures to ensure social distancing in trading venues;
4.23 in case of non-compliance with the measures laid down in this Order, appropriate administrative or criminal responsibility shall be applied;
4.24 the companies shall primarily ensure the supply of food, medicinal products, essential goods and raw materials necessary to produce food, medicinal products for the purposes of the domestic market;
4.25. Meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers may be organised remotely or in the order of a survey, using videoconferencing, conference call or other IT tools, in accordance with the procedures specified by the Prime Minister;
4.26 the Chairperson of the Supreme Court may, in consultation with chairpersons of regional courts and district (city) courts, determine the procedures and conditions under which the scheduled court hearings are suspended or not examined or otherwise restrict proceedings which are related to the conduct of oral judicial proceedings in all courts of the Republic of Latvia;
4.27. The Council of Sworn Bailiffs and the Council of Sworn Notaries may impose restrictions or decide on the termination of the taking of visitors on-site in the places of practice of sworn bailiffs and sworn notaries.
5.The measures shall be financed from State budget funds allocated to the institutions in accordance with the Law on the State Budget for 2020, as well as upon the motivated request of the institutions from the State budget programme 02.00.00 “Funds for Unforseen Events”. In such cases, the Cabinet of Ministers shall take a decision on the granting of funding.
6. It shall be determied that the State institution specified in Section 3, Paragraph two of the Law on Emergency Situation and State of Exception is the respective line ministry, which collects and submits to the Ministry of Finance the claims of persons against the State for the damage caused.
7. In accordance with Section 9, Paragraph three of the Law on Emergency Situation and State of Exception, the State Chancellery shall notify the Saeima Presidium of the decision taken by the Cabinet of Ministers and, in accordance with Paragraph four of that Law, shall inform the public electronic media about the decision taken.
Prime Minister A. K. Kariņš
Minister for Health I. Viņķele