RIGA, Sept 15 (LETA) - Border guards prevented 15 people from illegally entering Latvia from Belarus on Tuesday, State Border Guard chief Guntis Pujats said at the parliament defense, interior affairs and corruption prevention committee meeting today.

Since August 10, a total of 1,166 persons have been stopped from illegally crossing from Belarus into Latvia.

In the past 24 hours nobody was detained for illegally crossing the border.

Since a state of emergency was declared in regions at the Latvian-Belarusian border on August 11, 25 illegal immigrants have been allowed to enter Latvia for humanitarian reasons.

Pujats said that every day border guards prevent some 25-30 people from illegally crossing the border on average. If necessary, border guards provide food products or call medics for the foreigners who are close to the border.

"We see high presence of officials on the other side of the border, thus, these hybrid threats still continue," said Pujats.

As reported, taking into consideration the steeply increasing numbers of illegal immigrants trying to cross into Latvia from Belarus, the government has declared a state of emergency that will run from August 11 until November 10 in the following municipalities: Ludza Region, Kraslava Region, Augsdaugava Region, and the City of Daugavpils.