Health Officials Alarmed by Increased Number of COVID-19 Cases

By Khatia Bzhalava

Thursday, November 4

Health experts believe that daily cases might exceed 7,000 soon.

1,040,022 individuals have received at least one dose of the vaccine in Georgia, while 944,520 people have been fully vaccinated.

According to health officials and experts, the epidemiological situation is becoming ‘alarming’ in the country as Georgia reported 6,024 new cases on Wednesday. They believe that amid the low rate of vaccination and large political gatherings the daily cases might exceed 7,000.

According to a medical expert, professor Devi Tabidze, Georgia is facing ‘epidemiological genocide.’ He mentioned that against the background of not adhering to mandatory guidelines, the recent rallies hitting 10,000-50,000 people were one of the reasons to trigger the surge. Tabidze has also stressed that with such a low rate of vaccination the country will fail to fulfil the National Vaccination Plan.

According to Deputy Health Minister Tamar Gabunia, offering a booster jab to people of every age is under discussion. As of now, only high-risk groups and people over 50s are eligible for booster jab doses six months after their second vaccination.

Georgian state officials claim that additional restrictions will not be imposed to curb the spread of the virus and stress that people should focus more on getting the vaccine to stabilize the situation.

According to the head of the Infectious Disease and AIDS Center, Tengiz Tsertsvadze, stronger control on existing restrictions and the introduction of COVID-19 green passports will hamper the further spread of the virus. Green passports are not available in Georgia yet, however, the Georgian National Center for Disease Control has already proposed the idea to the government at the end of October. If implemented, those who have passports will have more access to various services compared to unvaccinated citizens.

Georgia reported 3,818 recoveries, and 49 deaths on November 3. 1,040,022 individuals have received at least one dose of the vaccine in the country since March 2021, while 944,520 people have been fully vaccinated. There have been a total of 732,965 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Georgia, among them, 673,640 people recovered and 10,185 died.