RIGA, Oct 7 (LETA) - Considering the rapidly growing Covid-19 incidence and number of violations, municipal police in Riga have been put on high alert, Juris Lukass, chief of Riga Municipal Police, said at a news conference Thursday. 

Lukass informed that as of October 6, the municipal police have switched to the same high-alert mode as during the previous Covid-19 emergency. 

Lukass underlined that the change of priorities will not affect police response to life and health-threatening situations but that in less pressing situations people might have to wait longer for officers' arrival. 

The police chief also noted that currently there are 96 vacant jobs in Riga Municipal Police, although over the past year the number of vacancies sometimes reached even 130. 

Riga Vice Mayor Linda Ozola (New Conservative Party) informed that the city council's coalition has reached an agreement on an extra allocation to Riga Municipal Police to reward officers for their work in high-risk conditions.

She also promised that the capital city's government will keep working to fill the job vacancies in the municipal police and ease the officers' workload. 

As reported, Latvia confirmed 1,752 new Covid-19 cases and ten persons died of the coronavirus infection in the past 24 hours, while the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases rose to the highest level to date, according to information released by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).

So far, a higher number of new cases a day was registered only on December 31, 2020 - 1,861.

Latvia's cumulative 14-day number of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 population rose from 680.5 to 732.1, which is the highest number to date. The previous record was registered on January 10 - 693.9 cases per 100,000 population.