Since flights to and from third countries have been allowed, 92 passengers have arrived in Latvia, including 42 who performed Covid-19 express tests at Riga Airport, and none of them had a positive test result, but part of the society wondered how Covid-19 patients could be to the isolation point, which was also explained by TV3 Ziņas.
At the national level, no special transport is organized to transport Covid-19 patients to the place of self-isolation. The government relies on the honesty of the people that it will be epidemiologically safe to the point of isolation. However, in a situation where this Covid-19 positive does not have its own car in the airport area, there is a risk that the patient will use the 22nd bus or taxi.
Legislation forbids it, but as soon as the theoretical Covid-19 patient leaves the airport, no one controls his access to the isolation point.
Evita Urpena, representative of the Ministry of Economics
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“Currently, the regulation does not oblige any other party to deliver these persons with a positive result of the Covid-19 test to the hotel. No such agreement has been reached in advance for medical or police services to provide such transport services. It is the responsibility of the individual to find this way to get to the hotel. ”
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If even an infected person talks to someone who comes after him, another person is automatically at risk. In general, is this situation not epidemiologically risky and unresolved? We were unable to obtain an assessment from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (SPC). In turn, the responsibility of Riga Airport ends until the organization of testing and provision of information on the list of insulation hotels.
“As far as we know, at the exit from the airport, the State Police officers check all these people again to see if they have the test results. If someone had a positive Covid-19, the police would record which hotel he would go to, ”explains Laura Kulakova, the head of the communication unit at Riga International Airport.
However, the police do not control how the infected person gets there from the airport. However, the state police say that if an infected person asks for help to be taken to a quarantine hotel, the police will look for solutions on the spot.
Deputy Chief of the State Police Police Department Lauris Arājs
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“Of course, we would like to work with the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) to resolve this issue. If the involvement of the State Police is needed to transport a person, then the costs should be covered from the person’s own funds, but this procedure is still under consideration as to how we can make the request for funds legal and legitimate. There are probably still some changes to be made there. In any case, we would address this issue, but so far there has been no such case. “
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At present, only tourism service providers, ie charter flight organizers, are required by law to have a Covid-19 positive person in a special isolation hotel. There is no such experience yet, as no tour operator has launched charter flights to third countries. Inga Kavaca, the head of the Latvian Tour Operators Association, says that if the Covid-19 patient had to be taken to life from the airport “Riga” to the isolation hotel, it would not be very clear exactly how to do it.
