Restaurants, shopping malls, public transport reopening in Georgia

Restaurants, shopping malls and public transport will soon resume work in Georgia, announces the Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia.

Starting May 29 all types of municipal transport will be restored, including the Tbilisi Metro and buses, which have been closed since March 31. Mini-buses will also resume operations.

Gakharia said that wearing face masks will be mandatory in public transport.

Although the virus has not yet been defeated and it remains with us today, we must adhere to basic safety standards, including wearing face masks, social distancing and basic hygiene rules. Taking the economic and social interests of our citizens into account, we have decided to make the imposed restrictions easier: from May 29, all types of municipal transport, including the metro, will be reopened and this will be done only in accordance with specific rules, it will be mandatory to wear face masks", Gakharia said.

Starting June 1 all types of produce markets, stores, shopping malls, restaurants with outdoor seating areas will reopen. 

Starting June 8 restaurants and hotels that have passed the inspections of the Ministry of Health and have the appropriate permits will reopen. 

Gakharia said that the spread of the coronavirus is under control in Georgia and now is the time to strengthen the economy.

According to the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, today we have three new cases of infection and all three are from the quarantine zones. In fact, the spread of the virus in the country is under control, and to prove this we can rely on several facts: new cases of infection mainly come from quarantine zones, which confirms that the quarantine measures were the right decision. 

Second, we have new cases of infected people only from clusters already known to us, and third - the international cargo transportation is a risk group, on which the coordinating council is actively working and monitoring has been tightened. This means that the spread of infection and pandemic in the country is under control. A new task is emerging - this is the faster development of the economy", Gakharia said.

Georgia is set to resume domestic tourism starting June 15 and international tourism starting July 1.