National Disease Control Centre urges media to refrain from ‘making a scene’ over coronavirus

Head of the National Disease Control Centre (NCDC) has urged media outlets to refrain from ‘making a political scene’ and ‘inappropriately insulting medics’ regarding the coronavirus situation in the country ‘as the issue is not political.’

• 8 test negative for coronavirus, number of coronavirus infections remains at 3

He stated that Mtavari Arkhi and its founder Nika Gvaramia have made ‘ungrounded accusations’ against the NCDC and responsible state agencies, blaming them of ‘being unprepared for the virus and being intransparent.’ 

He also said that Gvaramia’s statements on the ‘failure of the Hepatitis C Elimination Programme’ and mentioning Lugar Lab ‘in improper contexts’ were ‘absolutely unacceptable’.

We have always been transparent in our statements. We have never hidden any information from the media regarding the coronavirus and all steps have been taken to avoid the transit of the virus into the country and its spread,” Gamkrelidze said, adding that the Hepatitis C elimination Programme is one of the ‘most successful’ programmes, while recent days have ‘revealed how important the Lugar lab is’. 

 During a press conference earlier today, Gamkrelidze said that the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus still stands at three and the condition of the infected are satisfactory as they ‘have a mild form of the virus.’

Public transport, state agencies, education institutions, underground passes are being disinfected in Georgia. Photo: Tbilisi City Hall. 

As of now we have 97 people under quarantine. We have tested 171 individuals so far for the new coronavirus, with only three of them testing positive,” Gamkrelidze said, adding that all the three individuals returned to Georgia already infected, with the country ‘having no case of someone becoming infected from inside the country.’ 

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Gamkrelidze stated that people from Iran and China are ‘nearly unable’ to enter Georgia [as flights are banned and restrictions are imposed on road travel], while Georgians are still returning from Italy which also faces an outbreak of the virus. 

I want to urge people returning from Italy to their homeland to show high civil responsibility and do not take pills to reduce temperatures or avoid other mandatory procedures,” Gamkrelidze said.

Gamkrelidze stated that the new coronavirus Covid 19 has already spread in 65 countries, with more than 90,000 infected, and more than 40,000 recovered.