Georgia tightens regulations to prevent spread of coronavirus

In order to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Georgia is tightening certain regulations.

Specifically:

• Monitoring of events in open and closed spaces is tightened
• The school year in Batumi and Kobuleti will resume from September 15 in remote mode
• Foreigners wishing to come to Georgia must submit the results of a PCR test carried out within the last 72 hours
• The duration of the quarantine has decreased from 12 to 8 days.

School studies in Batumi and Kobuleti will resume in person from October 1

In all other regions and cities of Georgia, studies will resume in classrooms from September 15, as planned.

According to Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, tightening security measures became necessary after several cases of the spread of infection at social events (weddings, commemorations, anniversaries) were identified.

“Greater control of social and ritual activities is needed, especially in confined spaces.  A clear example of this was Adjara, where very large weddings have taken place in recent months. There were cases when such social events became the source of the spread of the virus. Therefore, monitoring of events held in closed spaces will be extremely toughened,” Gakharia says.

Organizers of events in open spaces will have to carry out additional regulations.

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Control mechanisms will be tightened and, together with the labor inspection, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will join the process. They will jointly check each venue.

In closed spaces, only 10 people are allowed to gather, in case of a larger number of guests, the event should be held in the open air.

For violation of these rules, a legal entity will be fined 10,000 lari, and individuals – 2,000 lari. Repetition of the violation will result in criminal prosecution.

Everyone who wants to come to Georgia from September 15 will have to present the results of a PCR test

This decision also applies to the citizens of those five countries (Germany, France, Estonia, Latvia and Lietuva), to which Georgia previously opened the borders without any conditions and who previously had no restrictions on entry into Georgia.

Mandatory quarantine period reduced from 12 to 8 days

A person can leave quarantine space or self-isolation on day 9 in case the result of the PCR test is negative and provided that after 72 hours he will do another PCR test.

A person who has a repeat PCR test on day 12 confirms coronavirus will be transferred to a hospital if needed, or continue treatment under the supervision of a doctor in quarantine.

Date of parliamentary elections will not change

According to the Prime Minister, the epidemiological situation will not pose a threat to the political process and the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 31 will be held at the appointed time.

As of September 7, 34 new cases of coronavirus have been detected in Georgia in the last 24 hours.

A total of 1,684 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been registered in Georgia, of which 1,315 have recovered, and 19 have died.