NCDC Head: Covid-19 Delta variant amounts to almost half of new cases
The Georgian government’s goal is to vaccinate 60 per cent of its citizens by the end of the year. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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The Covid-19 Delta variant amounts to almost half of new cases based on the data of the US-founded Lugar lab in Tbilisi, Head of Georgia's National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Amiran Gamkrelidze stated earlier today.
He also noted that the share of children in the daily coronavirus infection rate is 10-12 per cent.
Gamkrelidze said that the epidemiological situation in Georgia started deteriorating in late June and noted that ‘somehow we have to do everything we can to stop it.’
Coronavirus cases started to surge in Georgia soon after the restrictions such as curfew and wearing face masks outdoors were lifted on July 1, which aimed to encourage the inflow of tourists in the country.
Head of the NCDC Gamkrelidze said several days ago that complying with regulations and vaccination can ‘stop the deterioration of the current epidemic situation.’
In the past 24 hours, Georgia has reported 2,460 new cases of coronavirus and 20 deaths.
Prime Minister Garibashvili called on Georgian citizens to get vaccinated and noted that Georgia has the resources for large-scale vaccination.
Georgia will receive 500,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine donated by the US government on July 24 and people will be able to register for the first doses starting tomorrow on the website https://booking.moh.gov.ge.
The Georgian government’s goal is to vaccinate 60 per cent of its citizens by the end of the year.
Currently, 136,734 people are fully vaccinated in Georgia, which amounts to about 3.4% of the country’s population, based on the data of Our World in Data.
Georgia has reported 2,460 new cases of coronavirus, 1,082 recoveries and 20 deaths in the past 24 hours. In total, 38,945 tests have been conducted around the country of which 20,419 tests were rapid tests, while the remaining 18,526 were PCR tests.
Ten percent of the infected individuals in Georgia are children, medical director of Iashvili Children Hospital Ivane Chkhaidze says. A group of Georgia health workers and scientists also note in a joint statement that ‘the only way to defeat the pandemic is through mass vaccination and adherence to safety measures’.
Georgia will receive 500,000 doses of Pfizer donated by the United States this Saturday, July 24. The Biden-Harris administration unveiled the strategy for global vaccine sharing ‘in service of ending the pandemic’ in early June.
Facemasks may become mandatory outdoors again in Georgia in groups of 5-6 people due to increased Covid-19 cases, Head of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Amiran Gamkrelidze announced earlier today. However, the order has not been formally issued yet, the coordinating council will review the proposal.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili called the new daily rate of coronavirus infections alarming and stated that Georgia will not endure another lockdown earlier today before the beginning of the government session.
Foreigners living in Georgia will be able to receive Covid-19 vaccines, the Georgian Ministry of Labour and Health announced earlier today.
500,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine donated by the United States have arrived in Georgia. Registration for the vaccine starts at 12 p.m. today via the booking.moh.gov.ge website. Meanwhile, Georgia has also received 15,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine donated by Lithuania.
Georgia has reported a total of 2,617 new cases of Covid-19 after conducting 43,394 tests over the last 24 hours. Out of the new 2,617 cases 1,485 were reported in Tbilisi.
Georgia has reported 2,061 new cases of Covid-19 after conducting a total of 31,204 tests over the last 24 hours. Out of the 2,061 new cases 1,030 were reported in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
19,375 tests were conducted around the country in the past 24 hours. 9,807 of the 19,375 tests were rapid tests, while the remaining 9,568 were PCR tests. The country has had 404,023 cases of coronavirus since February 26, 2020. 5.73 per cent of tested individuals had Covid-19 in the past 14 days.374,753 of the 404,023 patients have recovered, while 5,714 have died from the virus.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has stated that the government has no plans to reimpose coronavirus restrictions ‘because the state economy will not withstand them.’ He stated at today’s governmental meeting that the authorities have decided to ‘manage the epidemiological situation in the country rather than impose lockdown and other restrictions.’Garibashvili has urged the public to receive vaccines and to trust scientists and not various ‘anti-vaccine fake information and Facebook pages.’