"Shameless hypocrisy". Abkhazia eases restrictions amid record infection rates

Coronavirus in Abkhazia

In Abkhazia on January 25, the daily record of Covid-19 cases was broken – more than 500 cases were registred. Despite this, the government decided to ease the existing restrictive measures. The total population of Abkhazia is a little over 240,000, and according to statistics, more than 40,000 have been infected with Covid-19.

Experts explain the sharp surge of infection rates by the spread of the new Omicron strain in Abkhazia, although last week, the chief sanitary doctor Lyudmila Skorik stated that it had not yet been recorded on the territory of Abkhazia. However, according to the head of one of the private chain clinics, Amina Amichba, 24 cases of the Omicron strain have already been identified in their laboratory.

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In her opinion, in general, in Abkhazia, the spread of the new strain is probably much higher, since there is no way to identify Omicron in state laboratories.

On Monday, 538 cases of Covid-19 were recorded out of 1,036 tests performed. Compared to the previous day, the number of cases had tripled.

Meanwhile, the chief sanitary doctor of the republic, Lyudmila Skorik, assesses the current situation as “difficult but stable”, and in this regard, she suggests that the government ease the existing restrictive measures.

In particular, the operation of cultural facilities – theatres, houses of culture and museums, which have not been functioning for more than a year due to the pandemic.

Experts believe that Skorik’s proposals will most likely be approved by the government, since in reality she is only broadcasting the already prepared position of the authorities amid the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for March 12. As usual, most polling stations will be located at those cultural sites.

Social media users are extremely critical of the government’s intentions at a time when there is a sharp increase in the spread of coronavirus in the republic.

Here is what the popular Abkhazian blogger Dmitry Maksimovich writes about this:

“Our esteemed government and Mrs. Skorik decided to give the people a generous gift in the form of easing anti-Covid measures on the eve of the elections. It is understandable – election campaign volunteers need to gather somewhere. It is hard to imagine a greater hypocrisy, however, as we all know, the goal of the political struggle, “justifies” any means.

Even though the situation with Covid has not become any easier in our country, on the contrary, the extremely contagious Omicron is coming, people are dying in hospitals every day, and doctors work incessantly, not seeing their relatives for weeks. However, it is ‘okay’ to open the doors of the palaces of culture and allow mass gatherings!

Those who until recently sharply opposed the opening of cultural institutions, quickly changed their mind. On what basis, you might ask?

“Have we had a sharp decrease in the number of cases or have we achieved success in vaccination? This is shameless hypocrisy towards our people”.

Therefore, of course, thank you for the gift, but it would be better if the palaces of culture, rural clubs and libraries remain closed for another month or two, we have already gotten used to this during the last year, and we can wait a little more. The crisis winter period will pass, and as the number of vaccinated and recovered patients grows, it will be possible to consider lifting restrictions. No need to do it now, thank you very much”.

The total number of identified cases of coronavirus in Abkhazia as of January 25 is 40,398 people.

587 deaths have been registered and 35,202 people have recovered.

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