Unvaccinated citizens to pay for mandatory testing starting September 15

Mandatory testing for Covid-19 will not be free of charge for unvaccinated Georgian citizens starting September 15, Head of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Amiran Gamkrelidze announced earlier today. 

People that work in the field of service, education and law enforcement are obliged to test regularly for coronavirus. 

Gamkrelidze stated that unvaccinated citizens or their employers will be obliged to pay for testing starting September 15. 

He said that the government ‘spends a lot of money’ on Covid-19 testing, noting that about 38,000 tests are conducted on a daily basis. 

New coronavirus cases started to surge to record levels in Georgia from the beginning of July soon after the government’s decision to lift restrictions such as facemasks and curfew. 

Officials and medical experts actively call on Georgian citizens to get vaccinated to curb the spike of the virus. 

• Facemasks mandatory both indoors, outdoors in Georgia starting today

Gamkrelidze also said that for fully vaccinated Georgian citizens who are obliged to regularly test for coronavirus, the state will still fund the testing. 

They [vaccinated citizens] will be required to take the test, but if they are vaccinated twice, then the state will [continue to] fund it,” said Gmkrelidze.

A total of 7,626,947 tests have been conducted in Georgia since the beginning of the pandemic. 

47,872 tests were conducted around the country in the past 24 hours out of which 6,208 were positive.