Restrictions on movement to be lifted next month
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Wednesday, June 23
The Interagency Coordinating Council meeting of June 22 lifted some of the restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the Covid-19. According to the decision, restrictions on movement during night hours will be lifted from July 1. According to the City Hall, from July 1, Tbilisi Metro and municipal buses will serve passengers as usual.
To reduce mobility, the restriction on movement came into force on 28 November 2020. From 21:00 to 05:00, the movement of persons both on foot and by vehicle, as well as being in public space was prohibited. From June 1, 2021, the restriction period was reduced from 23 hours to 4 o'clock in the morning.
Besides that, wearing the facemask will no longer be mandatory in open spaces. However, the facemask requirement stays in force for indoor spaces, in places where the population concentration is large, to be considered conditionally, for example, fairs, markets, public transport and bus stops and this issue will be strictly controlled by the relevant services of the Tbilisi Transport Company in the future.
Public catering facilities as well as hotels and restaurants that have already been subject to regulations will be open until 00:00. As for nightclubs, they are completely banned, ” said Giorgi Ghibradze. As noted by the Chief of Operational Staff at the Interagency Coordination Council, at this stage, the regulation regarding work until 00:00 will also apply to open facilities during the holiday seasons. The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Natia Turnava expressed readiness to meet with the representatives of nightclubs and discuss with them the issue of assistance to this industry.
However, according to Natia Turnava , in the conditions of the pandemic, the summer tourist season will be better than expected, but it will not be complete. She estimates that at the peak of the tourist summer season, Georgia will approach about 70% of the number of tourists arriving by air, compared to the same data of 2019, which was a record tourism year for Georgia.
At the briefing, held after the council meeting, PM Gharibashvili informed that a million doses of vaccine will arrive in the country in two weeks and that an intensive vaccination process will start. The head of the government noted that mass vaccination centers are planned to be mobilized in big cities throughout Georgia and representatives of local authorities will be involved in this process. This process will continue in stages and by the end of the year, more than 3.6 million vaccines will be mobilized in Georgia. The PM discussed the timing of the introduction of additional doses of vaccines with the Health Minister and the heads of the clinics.
According to the NCDC, due to temporary delays in the delivery of the Astrazeneca vaccine purchased from the Kovacs platform, it is not possible to vaccinate people registered for the 2nd dose of the vaccine for the second vaccination within a period of up to 10 weeks after the 1st dose. All citizens who have planned to be vaccinated with this vaccine will be given the opportunity in the near future, for which an additional announcement will be made. However, all citizens who have booked their second vaccination within 10-12 weeks of the 1st dose will be able to get the vaccine without delay on the date of their choice.
According to Amiran Gamkrelidze, NCDC head, the citizens are guaranteed to be vaccinated for the second dose within 12 weeks. “We have about 1,600 doses of AstraZeneca in our network. And for those who have booked four to ten weeks after the first vaccination, we ask them to be a little patient, we apologize again. They will be provided with additional information on when 43,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine will be delivered to the country,” he said, adding that in a few days it will be possible to provide it and UNICEF is working intensively on this.
