Few of the restriction to be lifted starting today
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Monday, February 8
A few days ago, the Government Administration published a special statement about opening up the country starting February 8. While some of the restrictions are lifted today for weekdays, whereas others remain in full effect.
According to the decision of the Government of Georgia, municipal transport in Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Rustavi will resume working on February 8 instead of March 1; markets will open a week earlier than planned. Starting from February 15, schools are allowed to resume teaching in classrooms. Also, restaurants and fast-food chains will be able to operate their outdoor spaces. In addition to easing restrictions, the Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia also stressed the importance of tightening other rules, noting that in case of repeated violation of the rules on wearing face masks, the fine will be doubled and will amount GEL 40.
According to the government, students will choose how they prefer to continue studies- in classrooms or online.
Also, every school will have to follow different types of protocols, and will be allowed to come up with their own schedules according to their infrastructure and needs.
Gakharia stressed that any company that violates the rules, in addition to the fine, will no longer benefit from state assistance and subsidies and will not participate in any state support program in the future.
Nationwide, the two-month strict restrictions went into effect on November 28. The government then promised a gradual easing of restrictions. On February 1, all restrictions, including the curfew, were to be lifted. However, on January 22, the government decided to ease only part of the restrictions, and postponed part of the restrictions until March 1.
The government says the decision was made thanks to the fact that the daily infection results have dropped below 4%. However, the government states that all of the steps should be taken responsibly and with much care to make sure that the virus does not spread faster than expected.
All of the restrictions will remain in force during the weekends.
As of today, there have been a total of 262,024 cases reported in the country. Out of these, 253,614 have recovered, and 3283 have died. In the last 24 hours, 404 new cases were reported.
