Mestia municipality put on coronavirus lockdown, tourists be placed in quarantine
People in Mestia municipality will be intensively tested for the coronavirus. Photo: Georgian Travel Guide.
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Mestia municipality in western Georgia, one of the most visited tourist attractions in the country, has been placed on lockdown as 16 people have tested positive in the past two days in the municipality for the coronavirus.
People will not be able to enter or leave the municipality without the police’s consent.
Tourists who are now in the municipality will be placed under quarantine in hotels where they are currently located (if the hotels meet the recommendations of Georgia’s Health Ministry) or will be transported to other quarantine zones.
We understand that there are many tourists in Mestia. None of them will be left without attention,” Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia stated earlier today.
The Georgian government called upon the tourists to stay where they are now as special groups will decide whether to leave them in the hotels they had booked or to transport them to other quarantine zones inside the municipality.
All individuals who will leave the municipality with the police’s consent have to spend two weeks under quarantine.
The town of Mestia and the villages of Ushguli and Lenjeri in Mestia municipality will face stricter restrictions.
The inhabitants of the areas will not be able to move to other locations of Mestia municipality.
Only pharmacies, banks and markets will remain open in the town of Mestia and the villages of Ushguli and Lenjeri.
Police will monitor whether people wear face masks in closed facilities or keep a mandatory two-meter distance.
The government will ensure locals are provided with products they need.
Individuals who have spent the past two weeks in the municipality and have already left Mestia should phone 112 or address special centres (fever centres) if they show symptoms of the coronavirus.
Georgian Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze has stated that the government 'has taken urgent steps and we do not expect many COVID-19 patients.'
Three individuals have tested positive for the new China-born coronavirus in Georgia, increasing the total number of confirmed cases to 33. All of the three had contact with foreigners from the countries, which are currently the largest centres of the outbreak.
One Georgian citizen who had tested positive for the new China-born coronavirus in February has been reportedly cured. Medical director of Tbilisi Infectious Disease Hospital, Marina Ezugbaia stated today that the first individual who had tested positive for COVID-19 back on February 26 after returning from Iran, has now tested negative.
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The government of Georgia has presented an anti-crisis plan for Georgian businesses in order to ease the burden caused by the coronavirus crisis. The government responded to the demand of the hotels, restaurants, tourist agencies and tour operators in Georgia and decided to postpone payment of property and income tax by four months.
Georgia has reported 25 new cases of the coronavirus earlier today, bringing the total number of cases to 1,250. 1,010 of the 1,250 patients have recovered, while 17 others have died. As of today 223 individuals remain infected with COVID-19 in Georgia who tested positive for the coronavirus in the country. Adding to the 223 active infections, there are 38 other COVID-19 patients in the country who tested positive for the coronavirus abroad and were transported to the homeland.
Georgia has reported 14 new cases of the coronavirus earlier today. Forty-four COVID-19 patients have recovered over the past 24 hours. Most of the patients who have recovered are Georgian soldiers who tested positive for the coronavirus while serving in the NATO Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan last month and were transported home for treatment.
The Georgian Interior Ministry reported earlier today that its eleven employees have tested positive for the coronavirus. All of them feel well and epidemiologists are now actively studying their contacts. Over 20 individuals have already been transferred to the quarantine zone, the Interior Ministry reported.
Georgia has reported 14 new cases of the coronavirus earlier today, bringing the total number of cases to 1,278. 1,058 of the 1,278 patients have recovered, while 17 others have died. As of today 203 individuals remain infected with COVID-19 in the country. Mestia municipality in western Georgia and Karajalari village of Gardabani municipality in eastern Georgia remain on coronavirus lockdown.
Georgian PrimeMinister Giorgi Gakharia has dismissed media reports that the government has plans to impose coronavirus restrictions in Kazbegi municipality of eastern Georgia, as seven border guards in Larsi checkpoint, at Russia-Georgia border, have tested positive for the coronavirus.
As of now, 751 tourists are in Georgia, while the number of business visitors since Georgia has opened its borders to several countries amounts to more than 4,000, said Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia earlier today.
Since the arrival of coronavirus in Georgia, a total of 283,000 people have been tested for coronavirus with PCR in Georgia, while over 180,000 have been tested with rapid tests in the country, said Deputy Head of the National Disease Control Centre Paata Imnadze.
Georgia has reported five new cases of the coronavirus earlier today. Two of the five new patients are from the Lenjeri village of Mestia municipality which is on coronavirus lockdown, two new cases are imported (one is a truck driver), while the remaining one contracted the virus from an infected individual.Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control says that only two of 600 individuals in Mestia have tested positive for the coronavirus over the past several hours.
Georgia has reported 23 new cases of the coronavirus earlier today. Six of the 23 new patients are from Lenjeri village of Mestia municipality which is on lockdown. Eleven of the new patients contracted the virus from contact with infected individuals in the country, two new cases were imported (both are truck drivers), one new patient is a medical personnel, while the source of infection has not been identified in the remaining three cases. Since February 26, 2020 Georgia has had 1,306 cases of the coronavirus.
The National Food Agency of Georgia is responding to the discovery of traces of the new coronavirus in cargoes of frozen chicken wings imported from Brazil to China, saying that at this stage Georgia has not received any notification from international organisations regarding restrictions on chicken imports.
Nine coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Kazbegi municipality, eastern Georgia, said Mayor of Kazbegi municipality Alexandre Zagashvili, noting the ‘epidemiological situation is calm and under control.’
Villages in Mestia municipality which have been under lockdown will open starting August 21, except the village of Lenjeri and the small town of Mestia – the administrative center of the municipality.
The epidemiological situation is under control but the coronavirus has not yet been defeated, said Head of the National Disease Control Centre Amiran Gamkrelidze, urging citizens to observe all the recommendations of the Georgian Health Ministry.
The quarantine restrictions have been lifted today in the Mestia municipality in western Georgia, one of the most visited tourist attractions in the country, which was under lockdown after 17 people tested positive for the coronavirus on August 10.
The police have uncovered a large number of cryptocurrency machines illegally consuming large amounts of electricity in the auxiliary space of the hotel Banguriani in central Mestia, Svaneti region, says energy company Energo-Pro Georgia.