Citizens leaving occupied territories to take Covid-19 tests instead of 5-day quarantine

By Natalia Kochiashvili

Thursday, April 15

The quarantine period for citizens leaving the occupied territories has been gradually reduced from the initial 14 days to 8 days, and on February 11, 2021 - to 5 days.

Since the detection of the first case of coronavirus in Georgia, 291,214 laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus have been detected, of which 3,901 people have died.

Starting April 19, residents of Russian-occupied Georgian territories will take Covid-19 rapid tests instead of going through 5-day quarantine. According to the decision of the government of Georgia, they will also voluntarily participate in the vaccination process in accordance with the age groups defined by the National Vaccination Plan. Those vaccinated with two doses of the vaccine will be able to cross into the territory controlled by the central government of Georgia in the future without testing.

Several protests were held demanding the removal of mandatory 5-day quarantine. The protest was aggravated earlier this month after four people, who were trying to cross onto territory controlled by the central government of Georgia from Russian-occupied Gali through the Enguri River, died. They tried to avoid the mandatory 5-day quarantine when trying to get from Gali to Zugdidi. The State Security Service of Georgia said that this tragedy was a result of restrictions 'unlawfully imposed by the occupation regime over free movement and of the damaging practice of unlawful detentions.

In order to move from the Gali district to the rest of Georgia, its residents have to cross the Enguri Bridge crossing point, which was closed by the de facto officials of Abkhazia on March 14, 2020, to “prevent the spread of the coronavirus.” On February 11, 2021, it opened, but only for retirees and those with health problems. Note that the de facto government allows residents of the Gali district to enter the territory controlled by the central government of Georgia with a special ‘pass’ which must be received in Sokhumi and costs ?45.

At the meeting of the Interagency Coordination Council, the Minister of Health Ekaterine Tikaradze also presented a vaccination expansion plan, according to which, the priority groups involved in vaccination will be gradually increased so that the vaccination process against Covid-19 can be carried out as fast as possible. It was noted that intensive negotiations are underway and that the country would receive additional doses of vaccines shortly. As of April 14, a total of 23,493 people have been vaccinated, NCDC reports.

The Council highlighted the trend of deteriorating epidemiological conditions and reiterated the need to strictly adhere to existing regulations to avoid the need to impose severe restrictions. In this regard, great importance is attached to the necessity to properly use facemasks, to keep social distance, and to avoid crowded gatherings.

As of April 14, Georgia has reported 1,085 new cases of coronavirus, 432 recoveries, and 7 deaths in the past 24 hours. Health Minister Tikaradze says that if more than 4% of tested individuals test positive for coronavirus in two consecutive weeks, the government of Georgia is likely to impose coronavirus restrictions, including another lockdown. As of now, 2.56 % of tested individuals tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 14 days.