17,613 people register to get vaccinated with Sinopharm, Indian stamp of COVID-19 has not yet been detected – COVID-19 update in Georgia

On May 4, Georgia continued to implement the nationwide vaccination program, now using the Chinese-manufactured Sinopharm vaccine. According to the latest data of the Georgian Centre for the Disease Control, a total of 17,613 people aged over 18 have already registered to get a shot of the Sinopharm vaccine since April 27. The centre reported the vaccination with Sinopharm will be carried out in 33 medical centres and with the help of 33 specially trained brigades of professionals, and starting from May 5, vaccination will also be available in 44 additional medical centres. Earlier today, Head of the Georgia’s Center for Disease Control Amiran Gamkrelidze received his shot of the Sinopharm vaccine at the University Hospital in Tbilisi while being broadcasted live on the national TV.

This Tuesday, during a briefing, Amiran Gamkrelidze called for Georgian citizens not to be agitated by the new Indian strain of the COVID-19, which, according to him, has not yet been detected in Georgia, although there is a chance that it has already entered the country:

“Please do not get anxious about this Indian strain. A powerful epidemic in India is not caused by the Indian strain only, it is a British strain – we call it double mutation. The Indian strain does, of course, exist, but the cases are much fewer. There is a chance that it is already present in Georgia, but we come across British strain much more often,” Gamkrelidze explained.

In another briefing that took place earlier today, Deputy Minister of Health Tamar Gabunia announced that additional doses of AstraZeneca vaccine will be delivered to Georgia on May 6, and that Georgia is expecting to acquire additional doses of Pfizer vaccine via the Covax platform.

As of the last 24 hours, a total of 788 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the country, 1,206 have made a recovery and 20 people have died of coronavirus. The total number of confirmed cases in Georgia since February 2020 has not reached 313,742, out of which, 4,183 people have died and 313,742 have recovered.

As of right now, 14,075 people remain infected with the COVID-19 pandemic.