The Georgian President has officially declared a national emergency over coronavirus at a special briefing today.

“I have made the decision to declare a state of emergency throughout Georgia. This decision will come into force as soon as it is announced,” the President said.

“My compatriots. Today, Georgia, along with other countries in the world, faces one of the most serious challenges. The situation is grave and we should expect it to get even worse. There is no way to cure the illness yet. Prevention is all we can do. We have all seen in the past few days how timely and efficiently our healthcare system, Lugar Lab and Tbilisi Infections Hospital management has faced this challenge. Based on the professional advice provided by them, as well as the timely and effective response by the state agencies, the risk of the spread of the virus has been reduced in our population.

"Their joint merit is that the number of people infected in Georgia is still within the range of dozens today. It can be said that we managed to contain the first wave of the epidemic. We can be proud of this as it is a joint achievement of our society, state agencies and the healthcare system. We must make this first success a victory.

"Given the nature of the illness, we must be ready for the second wave, when the number of infected people increases and the virus takes the form of an acute pandemic.

"This new fight needs new weapons.

"The Prime Minister, based on the WHO recommendations and Article 71 of the Constitution, made a decision to declare a state of emergency on the entire territory of the country.

"In accordance with Article 71 of the Constitution and Article 2 of the Law on the State of Emergency, I will issue a decree, according to which a number of rights specified in the Constitution shall be restricted for a certain period of time on the territory of Georgia, including traffic, assembly and gathering rights; property rights, and opportunity to provide public services.

"This decree provides for administrative and criminal sanctions for violations of the emergency regime," Zurabishvili told the nation.

She stressed that the restrictions will not affect rights such as freedom of expression and freedom of speech. In addition, media outlets will be able to smoothly fulfill their obligations.

“It should be clear to everyone that the restrictions on our constitutional rights stem from the current situation. When imposing the restrictions, our democratic principles were fully taken into account, and neither the freedom of expression nor freedom of speech will be restricted. Media outlets will be able to smoothly fulfill their obligations and provide information to the public," she noted.

The President added that the state of emergency does not imply full quarantine or curfew.

The state of emergency will be maintained until April 21.

The Georgian government has addressed the President with the proposal to declare a state of emergency in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

21 March 2020 15:42