RIGA, Oct 27 (LETA) - Riga City Council on Wednesday approved a decree allowing the city's municipal hospitals to get actively involved in tackling the Covid-19 crisis in state-owned medical institutions.

The city council's approval was necessary to enable a faster response of the municipal hospitals as their new responsibilities go beyond the functions delegated to them by the local authority, said Viesturs Kleinbergs, chairman of the city council's social affairs committee. 

As reported, Riga Hospital No. 1 will admit 50 Covid-19 patients, Hospital No. 2 will ease the workload of state-owned hospitals by providing 25 beds for non-Covid-19 patients that will be transferred from state-owned hospitals, thus providing additional beds for Covid-19 patients.

Irena Kondrate, director of the Welfare Department, told councilors that by now, demand for hospital beds has already increased to some 150 beds in each hospital.

Riga Hospital No. 1 reopened its Covid-19 ward last Sunday and is already providing treatment to first patients.