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That’s it for today, join us again tomorrow for more Coronavirus live updates.

Armenia to lift restrictions on freedom of movement  

Armenian authorities have announced that starting tomorrow it will no longer be necessary to present documents to the police to justify venturing outside of the home. 

The country's manufacturing industry, construction, and communication sectors will also reopen.

Outdoor restaurants, bars, and cafes will also be allowed to begin operating, as will parks, hair salons and body care services, and athletics clubs, though only professional athletes will be allowed to access the latter. 

Malls and shopping centres will remain closed. Public transit will also remain shut down.

Head of North Ossetia: Corona conspiracists responsible for arson

Talking with editors of local news outlets on Saturday, the Head of North Ossetia, Vyacheslav Bitarov, accused believers of a conspiracy theory that connects 5G technology to the novel coronavirus of burning down a cellular phone communication tower near Vladikavkaz. 

Read more on OC Media: A cellular mast burns in North Ossetia over ‘5G technology fears

NCDC warns residents in Georgia's Kvemo Kartli Region not to be complacent

During his visit to the southern Kvemo Kartli Region on Saturday, Director of Georgia's National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Amiran Gamkrelidze urged regional officials not to relax their efforts against the novel coronavirus outbreak. 

'Don't calm people down by saying everything's alright. Everything will be alright but so far, we have a lot ahead. Since it [the situation] has improved a little, people started having an illusion that that's it, we won. No, it's not like that, we're far from there', Gamkrelidze noted during his meeting with Governor of Kvemo Kartli Region, Shota Rekhviashvili, and other officials. 

Marneuli, Bolnisi and Tetritskaro, Kvemo Kartli's three municipalities, have been hit the most severely in the country, contributing 189 out of total national 582 confirmed cases as of Saturday. 

Georgian authorities have also faced challenges implementing anti-coronavirus measures in the Marneuli and Bolnisi municipalities since placing them under quarantine on 23 March.

Residents of Marneuli Municipality villages have been angry  for not being able to distribute their agricultural goods to companies in late April, and more recently authorities have met with resistance from the residents of Mushevani village, also in Bolnisi Municipality, who attempted to stop paramedic from hospitalising several who had tested positive for COVID-19. 

After the infected residents were eventually hospitalised on Saturday, Gamkrelidze noted that a local ‘mullah or mufti could have played a negative role’ in convincing residents not to cooperate, and urged local authorities to have greater communication with the local population, including providing them with the bilingual information (most of the residents of Marneuli and Bolnisi are ethnic Azerbaijanis), and called for a greater involvement of ‘local leaders’.

Summary

Welcome to OC Media’s coronavirus live updates for Sunday, 3 May. We will be bringing you the latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic from around the Caucasus.

The biggest developments from yesterday:

A group of residents of southern Georgia’s Bolnisi Municipality prevented paramedics from hospitalising a local person infected with COVID-19 yesterday. According to Radio Marneuli, residents of the village of Mushevani confronted police officers and threw stones at an ambulance. The Interior Ministry confirmed today they had launched an investigation. 

The Head of Kabardino-Balkaria, Kazbeg Kokov, has made it mandatory for people to wear masks or other ‘personal respiratory protection equipment’ while using public transport visiting shops, or while at work. 

On Friday evening, Chechen authorities announced they were halting public  transport until 12 May. They also prolonged the stay-at-home order announced on 29 March for an additional ten days. 

Read the latest stories:

• Transgender woman sets herself on fire in Tbilisi
• Amnesty International questions Caucasus governments’ response to pandemic
• Georgian opposition demand answers after former official ‘breaches driving ban’
• Voice | The women on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Azerbaijan opposition party claims nearly a dozen members arrested in last two weeks
• Farmers in Georgia’s Marneuli protest inability to sell crops 
• Police clash with anti-stay-at-home protesters in North Ossetia 
• In pictures | Life under quarantine in Gyumri
• Georgian social workers forced to pay for taxis to visit domestic abuse victims
• Azerbaijan arrests journalists for ‘violating quarantine’