I want to share some informations or my expierence regarding covid infection with you guys from Latvia, but mostly for foreign people who come here for work or tourist.

TL:DR
It is rly hard to get informations here in English language, but so sum up: you need to find a family doctor to talk to and maybe pay in advance. Helpfull number 8000 1234 and press “5”! A doctor that helped me i found at ARS Med: +371 67 201 007

So what happend?
I am here in Riga for work and on Sunday i decided by my own to do a covid rapid antigen test just to make sure that i am not having covid and will spread it to my appointments next week.
Surprise! Two rapid test have been positive. I directly informed the hotel and told them that i will go in self quarantine from now. They are realy in routine with this and told me how to proceed in terms of room service and breakfast.

Next job for me was to get a covid RNS/PCR test as soons as possible. I googled and found out to call 8303 or 8313. They managed to give me an appointment on Monday morning.
So i did the test, enjoyed my last walk for a while outside and waited for the test result.
Surprise – also positive!
Okay what to do next?
Hotel staff told me at the phone that the National Health Service will contact me… but i decided to not wait for them, because from my expierence in my home country they will struggle to manage the situation regarding to increasing number of covid-cases.
First i called +371 673 87 661 – which was so told me as the Health Ministry…. after a certain waiting period i reached somebody who told me that she could not speak english good and i should call again after 1pm, because then there is somebody who speaks English… okay no problem – would be the same in my country. So after 1pm i got an English-speaker at the phone. She could rarely help me but described the steps:
*I have to stay in quarantine.*
*I have to find a family doctor who will take me as a client and talk to him. He will be in charge to decide about my quarantine-periode.*
They asked me to call 8000 1234 – i called it.
There will start a recorded message in Latvian i do not understand – thought it is for waiting time, but after 02:09 min call is cancelled every time. After a while of trying i recorded the message and called the hotel staff to translate. They told me i should press number 1 – so i did next call. (WATCHOUT you need to press it in the correct moment… so i pressed 1 several times 😉 )
After 25 minutes of waiting i got through an operator who spoke good english (YES) and asked me, if i am a latvian resident – i am not. So this would be a special case – as she said – i need to find a family doctor who will take non-latvians. So should please call 8000 1234 again and this time press at the right moment “5” for special cases.
Okay i did and waited for 20 minutes again aaaaaand i got an operator who told me that i should call this doctor +371 67 13 13 13
So i did and again there is record message – but after all this recorded messages my Latvian is so good already that i understand i have to press 1 for Latvian language and press 2 for Russian language. Okay if this are my options i choose 1 🙂
So after 10 minutes of waiting i got connected to somebody who dont speak English… but she managed to find somebody speaking English – but not that good. I described my case but she said i am not correct with this doctor – i should call +371 67501590. She told me that will be a doctor. I called nobody picked up – i googled and saw it is a number of national health service again…. i feeled that she cheated on me…. I called again the last number this time somebody picked up and did not speak English at all…. okay then i call again the number i got from the national health service, but my call always got cancelled after a certain period. I think they cancelled…. One i came through… i started talking and they cancelled the call… okay?! then back to 8000 1234 and the “5”… got the same lady! I told her everything and asked for a other doctor. She told me it is the ONLY English speaking doctor in Riga that will take me as a foreign client and she can not provide me another number…. but this time she told me the name of the doctor “Dr. Michael Pushkin”…. soooo calling +371 67 13 13 13 again. As i googled it is [http://www.mfd.lv/veselibas-centrs-dziednieciba](http://www.mfd.lv/veselibas-centrs-dziednieciba)
Okay more a central number so i try again and use the phone in my hotel room this time instead of my mobile phone. A woman picked up and did not speak English…. sooo i just said “Dr. Michael Pushkin” and she replied some Latvian and then just “tommorow eeeeeh two clock”. Okay thats i good think but it is just 3pm today and i will not waste more time waiting… i say “thank you very much i will call tommorow again.”
I called my Hotel Reception and asked them for help… told them my story again and that i need to find a family doctor who will take me… they provided me this number of a medical center (ARS MED): +371 67 201 007
So guess what? I wait again in waiting loops but it is okay… I got an operator that is not speaking English but she managed to find a colleague who does. This one was realy engaged and managed to get me an appointment with a doctor at the phone in 2 hours. I was realy surprised 🙂 BUT i have to pay before via bank transfer. I did! But no doctor was calling at the mentioned time so i called again and i got her again at the phone. She was sorry and told me that my payment was not there so the doctor did call me… I managed me another appointment next day lunch time, if my transfer would be finished until then – doctor will call me.
AND SHE CALLED ME 🙂
We talked about my symptoms and how to act in case they get worse… She told me that my quarantine will end after 10 days from my first symptoms and i get no piece of paper or sth to proof this. I just can leave the hotel then. Even no test is required after this quarantine periode.

So far National Health Service didnt call me after 3 days now. Maybe later?

I hope this story will help other foreign redditors during this covid time here in Latvia and i hope you all will stay safe and healthy!

One more question maybe for the Latvian Redditors:
**How can i as a foreign person get a certificate as a recovered person? I cant find any good infos about it?**

THANK YOU!

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