Vilnius, Sep 23 (IANS): Lithuania has registered 1,402 new Covid-19 cases and nine deaths in the past 24 hours and moved into the worst "black zone" under the colour-coded national classification system.

In a "black zone," the 14-day rate of new coronavirus cases exceeds 500 per 100,000 people and the percentage of positive tests is above 10 per cent, reports Xinhua news agency.

The number climbed to 504.5 on Tuesday.

Since the middle of July, Lithuania's Covid-19 infection rate has been steadily increasing.

In the past seven days, the average daily number of reported new cases was 1,142 and the average number of deaths was 11 per day.

Lithuania made the Covid-19 certificate mandatory on September 13 for all people wishing to enter larger shops.

As a result, the country's larger supermarkets, such as Maxima, Rimi, Norfa and Lidl, reported a drop in revenues as people turned to smaller supermarkets and online shopping instead.

Wearing face masks is still recommended in the country, but the government may reinstate a mask mandate for public indoor spaces.