The state of my health has greatly improved; I am at home, I am being treated at home, I am following the recommendations of the family doctor in full, and I am trying to get back to work as soon as possible, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia stated during his appearance on Imedi TV.
In response to the reporter's question concerning the fact that he was unable to avoid the virus, the head of the government noted that the virus recognizes neither position nor political preference.
"Of course, I tried and followed all the rules recommended by epidemiologists. It seems, however, that I should have paid more attention and this is yet another example for each and every one of our citizens concerning the importance of strictly following all the rules set by the epidemiologists. This is the only effective way of stopping the virus. However, if we do get infected nonetheless, there is nothing to be alarmed about - we must calmly and quietly follow the advice of doctors and receive treatment at home or at a COVID hotel when possible, or in hospital, in case of complications," Giorgi Gakharia stated.
According to the head of government, global practice shows that 90 percent of coronavirus infections are treated at home, and this is the best European practice as well.
"First of all, we need to increase the quality of home treatment. This is the best European practice. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the hospital system to withstand the pressure. As of today, there are about 15,000 active cases of infection in Georgia, of which about 5,000 - about 32 percent - are managed in the hospital system. Of course, this is not a bad thing, this is good; however, when the pressure on the hospital system increases, there is a risk of not being able to provide timely assistance to patients whose condition deteriorates rapidly. That is why we changed the method of clinical management, the main result of which was due to our social situation, given that there are many families in Georgia where several generations live together. Those of us who are asymptomatic or have a mild case of infection should be treated at home, with the help of family doctors; for the cases where there are no conditions for social isolation we created COVID hotels, where there are slightly better conditions in terms of treatment and medical supervision. Only the 10-15 percent of patients at most, who require round-the-clock medical supervision, should be hospitalized. This is the tried and tested best practice. The difference in Georgia's case is that we created a buffer in the middle in the form of COVID hotels. The Ministry of Healthcare has already been instructed to introduce some elements of therapeutic management, as well as additional equipment, to COVID hotels in order to render medical supervision at COVID hotels more effective. As instructed, the Ministry of Healthcare has already taken the appropriate action in response. Additional protocols will be created for home management as well - in cases when the family doctor decides that additional tests are necessary, our citizens who are receiving treatment at home will be tested at home," the Prime Minster stated.
According to Giorgi Gakharia, the general mobilization of the medical personnel who have retired or left the system, as well as of senior medical students who have undergone special training, has already been announced.
"Precisely this is the new mechanism of clinical management, which I have already discussed. There are several weak points, however. First of all, of course, this is not the number of beds but rather the number of medical personnel, and the rate of their infection," the Prime Minister stated.
According to him, the number of infections among medical personnel is on the rise not only in Georgia but globally as well, and this is a challenge that we must overcome.
"Today, we have already announced the general mobilization of the medical personnel who have retired or left the system. The full mobilization of young people, senior medical students who have already undergone special training, as well as of the employees of the medical sector who can potentially fill the gaps pertaining to human resources, has already begun. As you know, today, medical personnel are facing the greatest risk - the number of infections among medical personnel is on the rise not only in Georgia but globally as well, and this is a challenge that we must overcome. That is why we are adjusting this process; it is transitioning to a much more efficient mode of operation and I am certain that such problems will no longer be an issue in the coming days," Giorgi Gakharia stated.
The Prime Minister viewed the events taking place in the country and noted that the ruling team will never restrict the freedom of expression, while also adding that such rallies are not just associated with risk but are in fact a mechanism for the spread of the virus.
"The ruling team will never restrict the freedom of expression; this is not something that we need. However, the fact is that such rallies are not just associated with risk - they are a mechanism for the spread of the virus, and this is not something that we invented, or merely our assessment; this is a fact, and it is the assessment put forward by epidemiologists. We can see every day how this translates into an increase in the number of infected people; of course, there is a direct link here and we will be forced to take some measures, though not in terms of restricting the freedom of expression. Rather, we will continue to impose pinpoint restrictions in order to reduce mobility as much as possible. One thing we must understand is that today, our country is operating under the conditions of several simultaneous challenges, these being the pandemic, the spread of COVID-19 globally, as well as in our country, the economic crisis, the political process, and we have neither the resources nor the opportunity to concede anything in any direction, and we do not intend to do so. We understand very well what this process, the freedom of expression, and the political process that is taken place in the streets mean for the democratic development of the country, however this cannot and will not take place at the expense of human health. This cannot and will not take place at the expense of destroying the country's economy. Unfortunately, in some cases, and this does not apply to everyone but in the minds of some destructive politicians, this takes the shape of the protest rally as [a means of] spreading the virus, or the protest rally as [an event that will precipitate] the economic crisis and, of course, there are some red lines. For us, such red lines are our institutional strength, the health of our citizens, our economy, our police, and our army. When the issue at stake concerns state capture, the destruction of the state, or the health of our citizens, of course, the state will never back down. We will put a stop to such cases quickly and effectively. I would like to stress once again that this does not and cannot apply to the freedom of expression. Everyone can exercise their right to the freedom of expression while following the rules. There is an appropriate time and place for this, and there are also rules, which allow us to take care of each other and our citizens who acted heroically on 31 October, under the conditions of the pandemic," the Prime Minister stated.
According to Giorgi Gakharia, citizens gave nine parties the mandate to enter Parliament and care for the future by way of strengthening democratic institutions, and even if the opposition refuses to help the authorities, they should at least try not to hinder them.
"Attendance and participation in the elections in Georgia was one of the highest, compared to the elections held globally under the conditions of the pandemic," the Prime Minister stated.
The head of the government noted that today, the main objective of the government is ensuring the health of the citizens and saving the economy and, of course, all this must be done without restricting the freedom of expression.
"Let no one forget that more citizens participated in these elections than in the 2016 elections, and let no one forget that for the first time in the history of Georgia, as a result of these elections, our citizens gave nine parties the mandate to enter Parliament and care for the country's future and lead it out of the crisis with the help of the platform of the Parliament and by strengthening democratic institutions, instead of holding street rallies, putting the country at risk, spreading the virus, and leading the country into an economic crisis. Therefore, I believe that we will cope with this challenge and overcome it, and if they refuse to help us, they should at least not hinder us; this is what we call for, and this is our main goal, as our objective is the health of our citizens, saving our economy and, of course, we must do all this without restricting anyone's freedom of expression. The most important thing in this regard is to follow the rules," Giorgi Gakharia stated.
According to the Prime Minister, when the citizens of Georgia gave the mandate to nine political parties, this amounted to assigning them responsibility and instructing them to work round the clock to lead the country out of the crisis, rather than to organize street rallies.
"For the first time in the history of independent Georgia, giving mandates to nine political parties amounted to assigning them responsibility. This amounted to assigning them responsibility and instructing them to work round the clock to lead the country out of the crisis, rather than to organize street rallies," Giorgi Gakharia stated.
According to the head of the government, the shortcomings must be property investigated, and they must be given appropriate legal assessment.
"The 31 October elections were internationally recognized to have been in line with fundamental democratic rights. This is a fact. Of course, there were some shortcomings as well. We are a transitional democracy and we must all remember that. Shortcomings exist, and democratic development exists in order to address such shortcomings in appropriate democratic formats, through legal proceedings, and not on the street, especially under the conditions of the pandemic and the economic crisis. Therefore, we believe that any shortcoming that may exist can be corrected, and we must do all this together. We must not forget another thing: the choice made by the citizens of Georgia to give the mandate to nine political parties for the first time in the history of Georgia amounted to assigning them responsibility. This amounted to assigning them responsibility and instructing them to work round the clock to lead the country out of the crisis, rather than to organize street rallies. The existing shortcomings must be determined, they must undergo a legal investigation, and the appropriate legal assessment must be made," Giorgi Gakharia stated.
According to the Prime Minister, the principle that the opposition is following today - all or nothing - has nothing in common with the democratic process and contradicts the decision of the citizens of Georgia to award so many opposition forces with a mandate.
"As regards the assessments made by our Western partners - I no longer want to talk about how our Western partners assessed the 31 October elections as this is universally known. Today, however, new emphases have appeared in their assessments and this is very important, we must all take this into account. The say directly that the refusal of the opposition chosen by the citizens of Georgia to work in Parliament will damage the further development of Georgian democracy, because all of us who understand the basic democratic process also understand that the principle that the opposition is following today - all or nothing - has nothing in common with the democratic process. This principle takes the country back in time and contradicts the decision of our citizens to award so many opposition forces with a mandate, with the aim of instructing both the opposition and the ruling party to work together to further strengthen and improve the country's democratic process. After all, the objective is clear and simple: citizens of Georgia instructed us to work together to lead the country to safety, this is the main thing. Instead of this, however, today, the opposition (or some of them, at least) is acting extremely irresponsibly in terms of spreading the virus, organizing rallies, and plunging the country into an economic crisis," Giorgi Gakharia stated.
According to the head of the government, unfortunately, there still is a street opposition in the country, and have been unable to leave behind the stereotypes of the street opposition movement. This is extremely unfortunate, according to the Prime Minister's assessment.
"I will tell you my personal opinion. It was our responsibility to be prepared for everything. Unfortunately - and this does not apply to everyone - but unfortunately, we still have a street opposition and we have been unable to leave behind the stereotypes of the street opposition movement. This is extremely unfortunate," Giorgi Gakharia stated.
According to him, the more crises there will be, the better for the opposition; the more the virus will spread, the better for the opposition; the more problems there will be in various state systems such as the police, the medical system, the army, the better for the opposition.
"This is one of the most difficult areas and difficult challenges for our democratic culture. We must go through what is taking place at the moment as well. Our citizens have to see this as well - that under the conditions of the global pandemic and the global economic crisis, given the challenges in terms of the health of our citizens, instead of uniting, we are simply witnessing destructive, provocative actions whose purpose is clear and on the surface. The more crises there will be, the better for the opposition; the more the virus will spread, the better for the opposition; the more problems there will be in various state systems such as the police, the medical system, the army, the better for the opposition," Giorgi Gakharia stated.
According to the Prime Minister, no one will be allowed to destroy the country due to their narrow political interests and desire for government.
"Ultimately, for some reason, the damaged state and damaged state institutions in a state of crisis coincide with the interests of the opposition today, and these people do not hide this. We have said, and we will repeat that this is a red line for us; the red line is drawn when it comes to the health of Georgian citizens, the strength and stability of Georgian state institutions, and we will allow no one to destroy the country due to their narrow political interests and desire for government. I would like to issue a 100 percent guarantee that we will not allow anyone to do that and the Georgian people and voters, who made such a wise choice, will not allow us to do that either," the Prime Minister stated.
According to Giorgi Gakharia's assessment, the Georgian electorate gave the mandate to nine parties, thereby instructing the ruling party to find joint solutions to the problems.
"When the Georgian electorate or a large part thereof gave the mandate to nine opposition parties, it instructed us, including the ruling force, to sit down and talk, and come up with joint solutions to our problems. Of course, these are the instructions of our citizens, the Georgian electorate, and we will pursue and fulfill these instructions. Regardless of what this might cost us, we will act on these instructions; we understand our citizens very well. This is the direction indicated by the rationale behind democratic development. Therefore, negotiations of any type are essential, especially today, under the conditions of the pandemic, the economic crisis, and a possible political crisis, and we are always open to the idea of such talks, we are ready to hold them," the Prime Minister stated.
According to Giorgi Gakharia, there exist red lines, such as the state or the health of citizens, and crossing said red lines is unforgivable.
"Of course, both the opposition and the people who voted for them are our responsibility, and it is the responsibility of the ruling party to be able to find the right words and ways that will allow us to work together to care for the country and lead it out of the current crisis," the Prime Minister stated.
According to the head of the government, the simple, basic values and the platform, concerning which an agreement must be reached, is that everyone must contribute to the fight against the virus, rather than to the spread of the virus.
"We must all contribute to overcoming the economic crisis, rather than spreading the economic crisis. We must all contribute to strengthening our state institutions today, under the conditions of the crisis and the acute conflict in the region, rather than weakening them and this is the platform that we can discuss with anyone. This is the platform that our voters have instructed us to discuss; however, there is also such a thing as red lines, and the state and the health of our citizens is the only red line, crossing which is unforgivable. This is also our responsibility - to protect the interests of our state and of our state institutions, as well as the health of our citizens," Giorgi Gakharia stated.
The Prime Minister once again stressed that there will be no systemic lockdowns in the country, and that pinpoint restrictions will be imposed in order to quickly deal with hotspots of infection.
"Our main goal today is to minimize the damage done to the economy in order to maximize the possibility of rapid economic recovery at the point in time when the world begins to recover from the economic crisis," Giorgi Gakharia stated.
According to him, strict pinpoint restrictions are being considered.
"We must all understand that it is already clear that the measures and steps taken by the government in support of businesses and our citizens will not be enough, and we are preparing new measures. At this point, I would also like to reassure businesses and say that there will be no systemic, nationwide lockdowns in the country. Pinpoint restrictions will be imposed in order to quickly deal with hotspots of infection. While this may apply to several big cities, all of this will be temporary and, of course, primarily for the sake of health and the prevention of the spread of the virus. No nationwide, systemic lockdown will be announced in the country, we are not considering this yet; we are, however, considering the imposition of even stricter pinpoint restrictions," Giorgi Gakharia stated.
According to the head of the government, the country will overcome this crisis and it will be a shared victory belonging to the government, the opposition, citizens, doctors, and the police. Giorgi Gakharia noted that this is how strong and democratic states are created.
"I will definitely be involved in the process of preparing for the second round of the elections. According to the doctors, several days still remain until my full recovery. Even now, my condition allows me, I am sure, to work actively; however, as you know, the biggest risk of the coronavirus is the ease of its transmission, and we must take care of each other," the Prime Minister stated.
According to the head of the government, self-isolation is the only way to break this chain, which is why he, unfortunately, has to work from home.
"I would like to wish each and every one of our citizens good health. I would like to stress that we will, of course, overcome this crisis, and this will be a shared victory, this is the responsibility of each and every one of us - the government, the opposition, citizens, doctors, police officers, everyone. This is how strong and democratic states are created. These are the challenges that we must endure, these are the challenges that we must overcome together and once we have emerged victorious from these challenges, trust me, our state institutions will be stronger, and our democracy will be more Western. The great goal that brought each Georgian citizen to the elections is our common goal to ultimately bring our country closer to European standards to such an extent that we may apply for full EU membership in 2024. This is the goal that unites us all - the ruling force as well as the opposition. We are also united by the pandemic, the economic crisis, and we must all understand that we must fight together to protect our citizens and their interests. These are their instructions, and this was their choice," Giorgi Gakharia noted.
