Minister of Health of Georgia: perpetual status of Covid green passports may be revised
Covid-19 green passports in Georgia
On Tuesday, December 7, the coordination council will introduce additional measures, including the possible revising of the status of a perpetual “green” covid passport, said the Minister of Health of Georgia Yekaterina Tikaradze. According to her, the coordination council sees risks in them.
Also, according to Tikaradze, on December 2, the council discussed what type and duration of testing would be necessary in the context of the spread of a new strain of coronavirus:
“We discussed which testing would be most effective with the new strain. Keeping the rapid tests or only the PCR test will be necessary to obtain a “green” status”.
According to the minister, it was also about the timing of testing, since the world is already talking about the fact that the 72-hour period of validity is not enough in the case of a new strain, this time should be changed to 48 hours.
“Our professionals and experts will prepare a report that we will present to the council on Tuesday and introduce additional measures. I do not exclude the possibility of all measures related to the green passport being substantially strengthened”, said Yekaterina Tikaradze.
The minister also noted that when a new strain is discovered, control and recommendations will be significantly tightened. According to her, the coordination council is holding consultations on how to implement a “green pass” for admission to public transport, since if such a restriction is introduced now, “it will be a fictitious regulation”:
“The list of establishments in which the covid passport works is not accidental. It is important to gradually control the mechanism of action of the covid passport, control the mechanism of execution and gradually transfer it to other sectors”, he said.
On December 1, the so-called. the concept of “green passports” or “green status” came into force.
This means that if you do not have a “green status”, i.e. you have not been vaccinated with two doses, have not done a PCR test in the last 72 hours or a quick test in the last 24 hours, have not recently recovered from Covid, you will no longer be allowed in cafes and restaurants, casinos, cinemas and a number of other establishments.
According to the decision of the Georgian government, a “green passport” is issued to everyone who has ever had a coronavirus, while practice in different countries of the world recognizes a person who has suffered the virus in the past six months as “green”.
General Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Tengiz Tsertsvadze also criticized the perpetual “green passport”. According to him, he does not expect that the launch of the so-called “green passport” will somehow affect the epidemic.
According to him, in Georgia, a “green passport” should be issued in accordance with international practice.
“There will be two passports in Georgia – one for travel, where the last six months will be counted, and the other for internal use, where everyone who has recovered from Covid will be counted. This is wrong, and I hope that this will be corrected”, Tsertsvadze said.
The non-governmental organization Partnership for Human Rights (PHR) has appealed in the Tbilisi City Court against the granting of indefinite “green status” to Covid survivors.
If the city court upholds the claim, the government will have to substantiate its decision with “scientific evidence,” said the head of the organization, Anna Arganashvili:
“If the claim is upheld, the court will oblige the government to substantiate its decision with scientific evidence – on what grounds are people granted this life-long“ green status. Scientists tell us that such a rationale does not exist in nature, it has not been proven in any country and neither is it mentioned in any scientific source. We hope that the government will change its mind”.
