An additional 7 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Latvian territory April 17, raising the total number of cases from 675 on Thursday to 682 on Friday.

The new figure was released by the Disease Prevention and Control Center (SPKC) which said 1,535 tests had been conducted during the previous 24-hour period.

In total 32,837 tests have been carried out since February 29.

42 patients are in hospital, most of whom have moderate symptoms of the disease but 5 of whom are designated as being in a serious condition.

Furthermore, 88 patients who had previously tested positive for COVID-19 have tested negative on a second test. This does not mean they have recovered fully from the disease, but that they are no longer at risk of spreading it, the SPKC said.

So far 5 deaths of patients with coronavirus have been recorded in Latvian hospitals.

Iepriekšējā diennaktī veikti 1535 izmeklējumi personām ar aizdomām par saslimšanu ar Covid-19, infekcija apstiprināta 7 cilvēkiem. Latvijā kopā veikti 32837 izmeklējumi, infekcija apstiprināta 682 personām. — SPKC.gov.lv (@SPKCentrs) April 17, 2020

You can read [in English] the current emergency regulations introduced by the government to tackle the spread of coronavirus at the government website. As reported by LSM earlier, the regulations were further extended following a government meeting March 29, enforcing a two-person, two-meter rule for physical social interactions. The relevant section of the regulations can be read in English in our earlier story.

On April 7 the existing state of emergency and special regulations were extended until May 12.

There is a dedicated official COVID-19 website available with a variety of relevant information and contacts available in Latvian and Russian.

The Health Ministry also has this Latvian-language PDF file containing a long list of useful telephone numbers and other contact details. The number for medical emergencies is 113, the number for enquiring about a COVID-19 test if you have developed some potential symptoms after returning from overseas or being in contact with someone confirmed as having coronavirus is 8303 and the SPKC COVID-19 advice helpline is 67387661.

The SPKC has information in English about the approved methods of protecting yourself from the disease, symptoms and medical procedures and an interactive map plotting the incidence and distribution of the disease in Latvia,

Meanwhile State Police said that during the last 24-hour period they carried out 1,586 checks on possible flouting of emergency regulations, writing 16 tickets as a result. Penalties for individuals breaking compulsory quarantine run to a maximum 2,000 euro fine.