Georgian PM visits Lugar Centre, praises its ‘enormous merit’ in the fight against the coronavirus [VIDEO]
PM Gakharia closely familiarised himself with the activities of the Lugar Centre. Photo: government of Georgia press office.
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Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia visited the US-built Lugar Centre in Tbilisi earlier today, with heads of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze.
Gakharia said that the centre, which is under the full control of the Georgian government - the National Centre for Disease Control- since 2013, has played a major role for the containment and then in the fight against the coronavirus.
It is the merit of the centre, the professionalism and huge efforts of its employees that the coronavirus situation has been under control in Georgia so far,” Gakharia said.
Video by the governmnet of Georgia press office.
NCDC head Amiran Gamkrelidze briefed the PM on the researches which are being conducted in the centre, including the ones concerning the coronavirus.
The centre has tested people for the coronavirus since January 30, 2020.
Now 18 other labs around the country are able to make the tests.
Only 73 individuals could be tested on the coronavirus in March 2020 on a daily basis, while, by August, almost 10,000 samples can be studied daily.
The lab with its modern equipment allows Georgia to effectively diagnose dangerous illnesses and carry out epidsurveliamce. Most of the countries in the region are not able to do so. I want to thank our strategic partner, the US, for building the centre,” Gakharia said.
The centre has been attacked by Russia since its opening, accusing the US of conducting ‘dangerous experiments’ there.
The Tbilisi-based Lugar Lab is capable of identifying the origin of certain cases of COVID-19 per its genetic sequence.
The Lugar Laboratory in Tbilisi will have a new test to diagnose the new China-born coronavirus 2019-nCOV starting February 4, said the head of the National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health Amiran Gamkrelidze.
At a meeting with the diplomatic corps in the Kakheti region of Georgia the Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia thanked the United States for its contribution in founding the Lugar Laboratory in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.
Russian experts will be allowed into the US-built, Tbilisi Lugar Centre only with the presence of international delegates, within the convention on prohibition of biological weapons, and not in a bilateral format as Russia demanded earlier today, Georgian Prime Minister’s Special Representative in Relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze told IPN.
Georgia has reported three new cases of the coronavirus earlier today, bringing the total number of cases to 917. 776 of the 917 patients have recovered, while 14 others have died. As of today 127 people remain infected with COVID-19 in the country. Two of the three new patients are from a quarantine zone, while the remaining one had contact with an infected individual.