Government extends coronavirus-related restrictions until February 1st
By Khatia Bzhalava
Tuesday, January 12
The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Natia Turnava announced yesterday that the targeted restrictions and regulations in the country will remain in force until February 1. The minister noted that the two-three weeks left before the end of the month will be used for active communication and meetings with representatives of the business sector to ensure the safe opening of both transport and business in February.
According to her, even though the statistics of daily cases show that the restrictions imposed by the government have been effective in stabilizing the situation, the rate of infection is still high. Thus the Inter-Agency Coordination Council has decided to extend targeted restrictions, which include suspension of municipal transport in big cities and closure of shopping malls. Restriction on movement from 21:00 till 05:00 throughout the country still remains in force. Besides the mentioned restrictions, in big cities of Georgia including Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, Rustavi, Gori, Poti, Zugdidi, and Telavi, as well as the ski resorts Open and closed markets are not allowed to operate, (only agrarian markets continue to function), Private and public kindergartens are closed, schools, vocational schools, and higher education institutions (except medical education programs) are fully switched to online mode.
According to the Deputy Health Minister Tamar Gabunia, Georgia only considers purchasing vaccines authorized by stringent regulatory authorities. The vaccine should be qualified by the World Health Organization and should have an international acknowledgment. At this stage, Georgia is working on purchasing Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines. According to Gabunia, obtaining Chinese vaccines is not on the agenda as they have not been authorized by stringent regulatory authorities yet.
Yesterday, Georgia reported 551 new infection cases, 880 recoveries, and 23 deaths. Since the first outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, there have been a total of 239,780 confirmed cases, 226,215 recoveries, and 2,796 fatalities.
