Gal district in Abkhazia under quarantine after detection of coronavirus case

The Gal district of Abkhazia is under quarantine after a resident of the area returned home from Russia, and the next day was hospitalized in a Georgian clinic.

On March 28, the fifty-year-old woman flew from Moscow to Sochi, crossed the border along the Psou River, where she was met by car by her nephew and they headed to the village of Soberio, in Gali district.

Feeling sick, her relatives had her transferred her to Georgia, where she was hospitalized in a hospital in the village of Rukhi in the Zugdidi district.

A preliminary test for coronavirus, made in this clinic, was positive.

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The Georgian media were the first to report the case on March 30. Abkhaz authorities initially dismissed the claim, saying nobody had crossed the Georgian-Abkhaz border for the past three days.

Abkhazia closed the border with Georgia on March 12 in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. On March 28, it closed the border with Russia.

However, on the evening of March 30, Alkhas Dzhindzholiya, a doctor and member of parliament, a member of the Republican Operational Headquarters for Countering Coronavirus, on air of the Abkhaz State Television, admitted the first case of coronavirus.

“For some reason everyone is interested in how she left [to Georgia]. Now it doesn’t matter. It’s important who she was in contact with,” said Ginjolia.

Reportedly, 27 people were identified with whom the infected woman had contact, largely residents of the village of Saberio who have been sent to quarantine.

Most of the inhabitants of this village work at the Ingur hydroelectric station.

The Ingur/i hydroelectric station [ed. Abkhaz and Georgian spellings] is a unique plant, as it is located directly in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict and is the only joint Georgian-Abkhaz project.  The parties jointly manage the hydroelectric power station and share the electricity it produces.

From March 28 to April 20, a state of emergency was introduced in Abkhazia – borders are closed, public transport has been suspended, as is the work of markets, restaurants, wedding halls and other non-essential shops.

Until this moment, not a single case of coronavirus had been officially recorded in Abkhazia. As of March 31 there have been 100 cases of coronavirus infection recorded in Georgia; 1,836 cases – in Russia.

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