"Over the month of September, 1,855 were recorded in Lithuania, which is 66.4 cases per population of 100,000, there were 275 cases in July, which is 9.8 per 100,000, and 836 cases in August, which is almost 30 cases per 100,000. Compared to July, the number of cases jumped six times in September," Lingiene told a press conference on Friday.
Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga says "objective circumstances" were behind the increase, not some mistakes.
"Numbers are growing practically everywhere, and I don’t know if we can call the return to educational establishments and workplaces a mistake. I wouldn't call in a mistake, I would call it objective circumstances which determine the rise in the cases," the minister told the press conference.
"I can repeat once again that we spoke about that in early summer and those risks were identified. To live closed up, without going to educational establishments, without going to work, probably no state could handle such sanctions for an indefinite period of time," the minister said.
The percentage of cases linked to hotspots stood at 76.1 percent in September, compared to 70 percent in July ands 56 percent in July, Lingiene said. "We see a clear upward tendency in hotspots," the specialist concluded.
Imported case accounted for 4.9 percent of the total last month, compared to 11 proc., in August and 26 percent in July. The percentage of cases in which the chain of infection could not be traced back stood at 18 percent in July and 19 percent in August and September.
"In terms of age, we see that more young people were diagnosed with COVID-19 in September, with key changes seen in the below-19 age group as they accounted for 11 percent of the total in September, compared to 6 percent in July. It proves that young people fall ill as they are more active, go to schools, offices, higher schools, and that why the number of cases is growing," Lingiene said.
The NPHC representative also informed that out of the total number of coronavirus cases in September, in 76 percent of cases people developed typical symptoms, and in 23 percent of cases infected people developed no symptoms.
A total of 4,956 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Lithuania. There are still 2,378 active cases and 2,466 people have recovered.
94 people have died of the coronavirus infection, and another 19 infected people have died of other causes.