New hospital opens near occupied Abkhazia to counter COVID-19 pandemic

Police have fined seven individuals for violating the state of emergency rules in the Georgian regions of Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Kvemo Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Adjara and Kakheti. 

Police have fined 3 individuals for violating self-isolation rules in Georgia’s western Imereti, Guria regions and in Eastern Mtskheta-Mtianeti region today.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has praised the efforts of the Georgian government against the coronavirus, saying that the country is coping with the virus successfully. Stoltenberg phoned Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani to relay this message and say that the NATO foreign ministerial on April 3-4 will be held in a restricted manner, Georgian Foreign Ministry said. “NATO stands by the Georgian government and its people in the fight against the coronavirus,” the foreign ministry cited Stoltenberg as saying. 

Head of the Georgian National Centre for Disease Control Amiran Gamkrelidze said today that two sources of COVID-19 transmission out of the 85 confirmed cases could not be identified. Calling on everyone to stay home, he said “social distancing is the most powerful weapon" against the coronavirus. 

Two more individuals have recovered from the new coronavirus in Georgia out of the 90 confirmed cases in the country, increasing the number of recovered individuals to sixteen. 

Two minor patients have recovered from COVID-19 in Georgia increasing the total number of recovered individuals in the country to 18. 70 infected individuals out of the total 90 remain at various hospitals throughout the country.  

Starting today, public transport has been suspended in the western Georgian region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti to counter the further spread of COVID-19. Joint groups of police, military servicemen and healthcare professionals will monitor residents to enforce state of emergency regulations. 

Police have fined a total of 125 individuals for violating the state of emergency rules in Georgia during the last 24 hours. The Georgian Interior Ministry calls on the population to follow the rules of the state of emergency.

Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has confirmed earlier today that 100 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Georgia since the outbreak. 

The co-chairs of Geneva International Discussions (GIDs) from the European Union, United Nations and OSCE, Toivo Klaar, Cihan Sultanoglu and Rudolf Michalka remain “fully engaged to help address the challenges” created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Georgian Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze has urged people, parishioners, to stay home and pray to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. “As clerics frequently say and I also believe in this, God is omnipresent. We have the opportunity to stay home and pray and clerics will pray for us from churches”, Tikaradze said earlier today. Deputy Head of the National Disease Control Centre Paata Imnadze also urged  parishioners to stay home and through doing so “protect the church and the whole country.” 

All four checkpoints between Georgia and Azerbaijan will remain closed until April 20 per measures taken by Azerbaijan to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus, the Georgian Foreign Ministry reported earlier today. 

Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region confirmed its first case of the coronavirus yesterday. The de facto authorities of the region say that the infected individual is a 57-year-old man from Gagra who travelled to Russia. A 50-year-old woman from the region, who also travelled to Russia, is undergoing treatment on Tbilisi-controlled territory, after testing positive for the virus on March 30. 

A 15-year-old child has died in Russian-occupied Abkhazia after being admitted to the hospital on April 7 in critical condition. Abkhaz news agency Apsnypress reports that the child had been tested for coronavirus and medics are waiting for the test result.

Transparency International Georgia has sent 1,080 units of virus protection equipment including hand sanitisers, medical masks, gloves, coats, suits, remote thermometers to several medical facilities in Gali in Georgia's Russian-occupied region of Abkhazia. 

A woman with COVID-19 symptoms has been transferred to Bomond Clinic in Georgia’s western city of Kutaisi from Russian-occupied Abkhazia where she gave birth to a child. The result of the laboratory tests for coronavirus is not known yet.

The number of individuals infected with coronavirus is increasing in Georgia’s Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali, State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality of Georgia Ketevan Tsikhelashvili said earlier today. As of now, 188 people have been brought from the occupied regions to Tbilisi-controlled territory amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region has reported four new cases of coronavirus earlier today, bringing the total number of cases in the region to 25. Local media outlets report that the new patients are students of a Russian military academy who were already placed under quarantine in Abkhazia before testing positive.

The Russian-controlled Abkhazia region has opened the only crossing point on Enguri Bridge earlier today for people who were undergoing treatment for COVID-19 and other diseases on Tbilisi-controlled territory. 

Slovakia is helping Georgia in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic by offering €45,000 to purchase necessary equipment for a newly opened hospital in the village of Rukhi located about a kilometre from Enguri Bridge, which connects Russia-occupied Abkhazia with the rest of Georgia.

Residents of Gali in occupied Abkhazia have not received IDP benefits and pensions for four months, said Chairman of the Supreme Council of Abkhazia Jemal Gamakharia.

The Embassy of Russia in the occupied Georgian region of Abkhazia has urged its citizens to use face masks and gloves, and to maintain social distance in public spaces due to the worsening COVID-19 epidemic situation in the region.

The Head of Infectious Diseases and AIDS Centre Tengiz Tsertsvadze said earlier today that the centre has suspended reception of patients for stationary treatment due to its difficult operating conditions. However, Tsertsvadze noted that the centre will continue receptio of those infected individuals who need ambulatory care.

A 52-year-old man has died of coronavirus in the village of Labra in Georgia’s Russia-occupied Abkhazia region. This is the fourth person who has died of the virus in the region.

Georgia’s Russia-occupied Abkhazia region has placed the village of Labra under a 14-day quarantine amid a coronavirus outbreak. The region’s de facto health ministry announced earlier today that a total of five coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the village in recent days, including one death.

A seventh person has died of coronavirus in Georgia’s Russia-occupied Abkhazia region, reports the de-facto Ministry of Health of Abkhazia.

The chief sanitary doctor of Georgia’s Russia-occupied Abkhazia Lyudmila Skorik says that the region’s only  laboratory does not have the capacity to detect all new cases of COVID-19 in the region, reports RFE/RL.

The Czech Development Agency will provide medical equipment to the state hospitals of the Georgian Black Sea city of Batumi and the village of Rukhi, located near Georgia’s Russia-occupied Abkhazia region, reports the Czech Development Agency.

The US European Command has gifted an ultrasound to a hospital in Rukhi, which is about one kilometre from Russia-occupied Abkhazia. 

Doctors from the Republic of Bashkiria (a federal subject of Russia) will help doctors in Georgia’s Russia-occupied Abkhazia region to treat COVID-19 patients, reports apsnypress, the de-facto state press of Abkhazia.

Georgian State Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality Tea Akhvlediani said the illegal detention of Georgian citizens close to the Russia-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) exacerbate the already grave humanitarian situation there. 

Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region will open the Enguri crossing point to the rest of Georgia later today after almost a one year closure, Georgia’s State Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality Tea Akhvlediani stated earlier today. 

A covid patient has died at Gudauta district hospital in Russian-occupied Abkhazia due to a respiratory ventilator’s failure caused by an electricity outage, local media reports. Doctors started taking resuscitation measures immediately, however they were not able to save one patient, the so-called health ministry of Abkhazia reported.