On February 26, Georgian Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze confirmed the first case of Coronavirus in Georgia.

A man, about 50, Georgian citizen, who tested positive on the virus, returned to the country from Iran via Azerbaijan yesterday.

Minister Tikaradze said at a news briefing that in Georgia the patient was in contact only with border guards and as he revealed symptoms of the virus at the border he was transferred to the hospital in Tbilisi directly.

Amiran Gamkrelidze, Director General of the National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health, who co-briefed the media together with Minister Tikaradze, said the patient is “clinically healthy.”

Citing the latest decision of newly created ad hoc interagency group for tackling coronavirus challenge led by Prime Minister Gakharia, Minister Tikaradze said Georgia will restrict land-travel of Iranian citizens to Georgia and Georgian nationals to Iran for two weeks. The Georgian authorities have cut flights to and from Iran since February 23.

On January 29, Georgian government took the same measure regarding the flights with China.

Meanwhile, fearing coronavirus, on February 25, Georgia’s Moscow-backed Abkhazia region extended a ban which bars ‘foreign nationals’ from entering the occupied region. The ban excludes nationals of the Russian Federation, however.

Georgia’s top health official Tikaradze stressed that there is no danger of epidemic in the country.

The outbreak of coronavirus has killed over 2,600 people, majority of them in China, and infected thousands globally.

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