NEWS

Corona Updates: Stability Continues in Georgia as the World Battles Omicron

BY ANA DUMBADZE

In recent days, a slight decrease has been observed in both newly detected cases reported daily and in the number of fatalities. However, the number of daily coronavirus cases in Georgia is still high.

Omicron has not been registered in Georgia yet.

Speaking of Omicron, NCDC Head Amiran Gamkrelidze noted that it would appear in Georgia, too, and urged citizens to get a booster dose due to its effectiveness against the new variant.

“Preliminary laboratory studies demonstrate that three doses of the Pfi zerBioNTech Covid-19 vaccine neutralize the Omicron variant,” said Gamkrelidze, adding that a fourth booster is likely to become necessary.

“Israel has already started thinking about it,” he added.

THE STATISTICS

The country reported 3988 coronavirus cases, 4588 recoveries, and 49 deaths on Tuesday. Tbilisi recorded the highest number of 1699 Covid-19 cases, followed by the Imereti region with 658 cases, and the Shida Kartli region with 312 cases.

Georgia reported 3278 coronavirus cases, 3890 recoveries, and 53 deaths on Wednesday. Tbilisi recorded 1444 cases, followed by Imereti with 472 and Shida Kartli with 286 cases. 3123 coronavirus cases were reported on Thursday, alongside 4215 recoveries and 39 deaths. Tbilisi recorded the highest number of 1430 Covid-19 cases, followed by Imereti with 481 cases, and the Adjara region with 243 cases.

The daily test-positivity rate stands at 6.34 %.

Georgia’s total case tally reached 901,202, among which 849,090 people recovered and 12,918 died.

As of December 16, 2,349.643 people had received the Covid-19 vaccine.

THE CASES WORLDWIDE

Concerns about the Omicron strain continue to grow among health offi cials, who urge the population to strictly observe safety norms and refrain from traveling.

As such, the federal government of Canada said it would change its travel guidance Wednesday to offi cially advise Canadians to avoid non-essential travel outside of the country.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Tuesday that Omicron had been detected in 77 countries and was probably present in most countries worldwide.

The worldwide data provided by Reuters, CBC News and The Associated Press is as follows:

SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa reported a record number of daily Covid-19 infections Wednesday in a fourth infection wave believed to be caused by Omicron. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases reported 26,976 new infections.

THE UK

The United Kingdom also recorded a new daily record of 78,610 new infections Wednesday. England's chief medical offi cer warned the situation is likely to get worse.

Britain is also accelerating its national vaccination program, with a goal of offering a booster dose to every adult by the end of December.

THE EU

Greece, Italy and a handful of other European Union nations began vaccinating children ages 5-11 against Covid-19 on Wednesday as EU governments braced for the Omicron variant to spread quickly during the travel and big gatherings of the holiday season.

THE US

The US is facing rising infections and the new Covid-19 variant. This week, the US death toll from Covid-19 passed 800,000, the highest reported toll of any country in the world.

“The deadly milestone comes as cases and hospitalizations are on the rise again in the US, a spike driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, which arrived in the fi rst half of 2021 and now accounts for nearly all infections,” reported the Guardian.

The Situation in Georgia’s Neighboring Countries

RUSSIA

Russia on Thursday confi rmed 28,486 Covid-19 infections and 1133 deaths. Russia has not yet provided all the information requested by WHO to certify the country’s fl agship Sputnik V vaccine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, reported the Moscow Times. Russia confi rmed its fi rst cases of Omicron on December 6. The new strain was detected in two people who traveled into the country from South Africa.

ARMENIA

As of Wednesday morning, 212 new cases of the coronavirus were confi rmed in Armenia, and the total number of cases has reached 342,977. 11 more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 7856 cases. The country is still battling a strong vaccine denial movement. Currently, only 15% of the population is fully vaccinated.

AZERBAIJAN

Covid-19 infections are decreasing in Azerbaijan, with 1051 new infections reported on average each day. That’s 25% of the peak — the highest daily average reported on December 14.

There have been 607,076 infections and 8137 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began. The vaccination rate in the country is high: more than 4.5 million people, which is slightly less than half of the country’s population of ten million, have now been fully vaccinated.

MAQRO Construction Involved in Construction of Sagarejo Bypass Road of Int'l Importance

The consortium of ‘MAQRO Construction’ and ‘Gocay Insaat Taahhut ve Ticart’ is to build a new 4-lane expressway on the 7.66 km long section of the Sagarejo bypass road. The agreement was signed by the General Director of MAQRO Group, Murat Avci, and the Deputy Head of the Roads Department of Georgia, Salome Tsurtsumia.

Construction of the Sagarejo bypass road covers a distance of 27,840-35,800 km on the Tbilisi-Bakurtsikhe-Lagodekhi international road. The project plans to build a 7660-meter 4-lane highway and a 20,667-meter secondary road with all the necessary infrastructure, be it bridges, ramps or soil and asphalt-concrete roads of local importance.

"It is very important and a great responsibility for our company to participate in this project. It is a road of international importance and modern standards, which is very important for Kakheti, being one of the regions with the greatest interest in tourism. The construction of a new road will signifi cantly improve traffi c safety and reduce travel time. In addition, the project will support the development of agriculture and tourism in the Kakheti region and increase the competitiveness of transit corridors through Georgia. That is why we are pleased that we will contribute to the development of this region," Avci said.

The budget of the Sagarejo bypass road project is 149.9 million GEL. The construction process will be completed in 24 months.

PM Meets with NATO Sec Gen, President of the European Council and European Commissioner at 6th EaP Summit

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The EU members of the summit in turn said they welcomed the efforts of the Associated Trio (Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine) toward deeper cooperation with the EU, and their seeking to put in place close coordination with one another in this process, including for the implementation of the Association Agreement and intensifi cation of cooperation under the Eastern Partnership.

The leaders reiterated fi rm support for partner countries' sovereignty and territorial integrity within their internationally recognized borders. Special attention was paid to the region's security situation, emphasizing that blatant violations of international law and undermining of peace in Europe. In this context, the need to renew efforts toward regulating regional confl icts was emphasized, something which implied the EU's enhanced engagement.

The summit's participants expressed support for differentiation, one of the Eastern Partnership's key principles, which defi nes granting, on an individual basis, EU integration tools to concrete partner countries. In this context, the Associated Trio's gradual integration into the single EU market is planned. "At the summit, the leaders adopted a political declaration expressing full support for pressing priority issues within the scope of the Eastern Partnership. The new agenda of the Eastern Partnership, as part of the declaration, was developed through Georgia's active involvement together with the EU and other partners. Consequently, an ambitious agenda has been set to promote the empowerment of the partner countries' security, economy, institutions, and environmental and digital transformation mechanisms,” reports the government administration press offi ce. “The new Eastern Partnership agenda, besides maximally strengthening general resilience tools for the Eastern Partnership member states, also involves reaching important short- and medium-term objectives, to be ensured through the new EU External Investment Plan with a volume of 2.3 billion Euro (with the potential to attract 17 billion Euro in investments). For Georgia, this means stronger transport, energy, and digital connectivity, including through maximally tapping into the Black Sea's potential. Other important projects will be implemented as well to bring tangible results to citizens, including accession to the single Euro payments area, reduced roaming fees between the region's countries and with the EU, support for SMEs, including startups, fostering the mobility of students and the academic community, enhanced access to the European Solidarity Corps, Erasmus + and Horizon Europe programs, and more.”

As part of his visit to Brussels and participation in the Summit, the Georgian PM met with Charles Michel, President of the European Council.

During the face-to-face meeting, the parties discussed all important issues on the agenda of Georgia-EU relations, and the importance of voicing strong messages and refl ecting Georgia's priority issues in the Eastern Partnership Summit's political declaration.

PM Garibashvili pointed out that Georgia prizes gradual integration into the single EU market and strengthening energy and digital connectivity.

He thanked Charles Michel for his personal effort in supporting Georgia's path toward European integration, adding that European integration is the choice of the vast majority of Georgia's population, and the Georgian Government's ambitious plan to apply offi cially for full EU membership in 2024 serves this very purpose.

The meeting touched on Georgia's reforms and the importance of their continuous implementation.

PM Garibashvili also met with Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, which saw the two discuss the NATOGeorgia Agenda and steps made by Georgia toward integration with NATO. The PM highlighted that accession to NATO is a foreign and security policy priority of the country, supported by the absolute majority of the Georgian people.

Focus was put on the close cooperation between Georgia and NATO, with note that the country has all the practical tools to join the Alliance and that it is important to have a political decision on its accession to NATO.

It was stressed at the meeting that every nation has a sovereign right to choose its foreign political route, and the integration of Georgia to NATO is based on this very principle.

The discussion evolved around the practical cooperation of NATO and Georgia on Black Sea security issues, and particular note was made of the signifi cance of stability in the Black Sea region in ensuring overall Euro-Atlantic security.

The Prime Minister of Georgia expressed his gratitude to the Secretary General and allies for their solid support of the sovereignty, territorial integrity of Georgia and non-recognition policy.

The same day, the Prime Minister of Georgia also met with European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi.

Their meeting focused on the key directions of Georgia-EU relations and the agenda of the upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit. The parties emphasized the importance of ensuring that the summit’s political declaration maximally refl ects issues prioritized by Georgia. The meeting reiterated the strategic importance of the Eastern Partnership to the EU and reaffi rmed strong support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

The conversation also revolved around the adoption of the new Eastern Partnership agenda to foster the empowerment of the partner countries’ security, economic, institutional, societal, environmental, and digital transformation mechanisms. The new agenda seeks to achieve concrete results through the new EU External Investment Plan.

The Head of Government thanked European Commissioner Várhelyi for presenting the economic investment plan for the Eastern Partnership member states during his recent visit to Georgia, also adding that the Georgian government is taking active steps toward implementing relevant projects. PM Garibashvili singled out the importance of support from the European Commission and the EU member states in this effort. * * *

The Eastern Partnership Summit is the highest-level format for dialogue between the EU and the Eastern Partnership member states. Convened one every two years, it involves discussing crucially important strategic and political issues and agreeing them by the relevant parties.