2020-09-14
The government's policy in the fight against the coronavirus has always been consistent and well-thought-out, despite the fact that the nature of the virus is quite unpredictable, Head of Government Administration Natia Mezvrishvili stated at a briefing, which was held at the Administration of the Government after the conclusion of the session of the Interagency Coordination Council.
Natia Mezvrishvili also discussed the specific decisions that the Interagency Coordination Council made during today's session.
"Checkpoints were set up near the village of Matani in Akhmeta Municipality, the villages of Zoti and Chkhakaura in Chokhatauri Municipality, and the village of Kitsnisi in Gori Municipality. Every person entering or exiting these municipalities will be subject to testing and thermal screening. Also, the education process in the given villages of these municipalities will continue remotely until 1 October. We will provide the public with additional information concerning all subsequent decisions," the head of the Administration of the Government noted.
According to Natia Mezvrishvili's assessment, despite the unpredictable nature of the virus, the government's policy has always been more or less predictable, to the extent that this was allowed by the situation at the time.
"As early as at the beginning of the year, we said that the number of cases of infection would increase together with the gradual lifting of restrictions. This was natural, given the situation that we have in the country in this regard. At the same time, we said that given the lifting of restrictions, it was extremely important to strictly follow the recommendations of the Ministry of Healthcare as the country's economy would no longer be able to afford the imposition of restrictions due to the increase in the number of cases of infection. Today, we are faced with the reality that we discussed when we were taking the first steps in the fight against the virus," the head of the Administration of the Government noted.
Natia Mezvrishvili once again called on citizens to follow the recommendations of the Ministry of Healthcare and to wear face masks in enclosed spaces, as well as to refrain from participating in unnecessary gatherings.
"When we say that we must get used to coexisting with the virus, we mean that we must follow the basic rules that were established by the government, the basic rules that the Ministry of Healthcare calls on us to follow. First of all, this refers to the use of face masks in enclosed spaces, in public elevators - in all places where the use of face masks has been made mandatory by ordinance of government and the recommendations of the Ministry of Healthcare. The second and very important rule, which we must follow to the letter, concerns social distancing, and there are corresponding regulations in this regard as well. Last but not least, there is the third issue that needs to be considered: We must do our best to refrain from participating in unnecessary gatherings, and we have repeatedly issued statements on this topic," Natia Mezvrishvili stated.
According to the assessment of the head of the Administration of the Government, today, the state, healthcare, and hospital sectors are much better prepared.
"At the beginning of the year, we announced that the healthcare system needed to be prepared and that we had to take all the necessary measures for this purpose in order to prevent the spread of the virus as much as possible. This is precisely why we declared the state of emergency and implemented particularly strict measures. Today, there are questions among the public as to why the state of emergency was declared when there were far fewer cases of infection. The answer is very simple: We had to prepare the system in order to stop the spread of the virus and, in fact, we managed to achieve this. We can confidently state that the system is prepared. We must not forget that the countries that did not take such special measures - which did not declare full quarantine at the time - faced much greater human, social, and economic losses. Therefore, this explains the decisions and the consistency of the government's policy, regarding which questions can be heard," Natia Mezvrishvili stated.
Natia Mezvrishvili stressed that there are no plans to impose full quarantine and to declare a state of emergency.
"Today, the government is in full control of the situation; we must not forget, however, that the number of infected people is growing and we must be especially cautious. We would like to call on the public once again: Even though the situation is under control, we must use face masks, we must maintain social distance, and we must avoid taking part in unnecessary public gatherings as much as possible. We understand that the decisions made in recent days concerning the prohibition of ceremonial events - weddings, wakes, and other ritual ceremonies - have led to some dissatisfaction; we must not forget, however, that even today, we still have clusters [of infection] that are related to weddings," Natia Mezvrishvili stated.
At the same time, the head of the Administration of the Government noted that the decision concerning the reduction of the duration of mandatory quarantine from 12 to eight days will come into force starting tomorrow, 15 September.
As regards the imposition of restrictions, Natia Mezvrishvili explained that having imposed full quarantine during the state of emergency, today, the restrictions are being introduced locally, in a pinpoint manner.
"The rationale for the imposition of restrictions is somewhat different, compared to the earlier period. We are imposing restrictions where the spread of the virus is greater," Natia Mezvrishvili stated.
Furthermore, the enforcement of the rules and regulations that are in force by ordinance of government has been tightened. The head of the Administration of the Government appealed to the public to do their best to support the police and the Labor Inspection in ensuring the observance of the established regulations.
"Today, every one of us shares the responsibility. We must not allow the non-observance of basic rules to cause the further spread of the virus," the head of the Administration of the Government stated.
Press Service of the Government Administration