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Georgia ‘ready to help’ Armenia

According to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, in a phone conversation today, Davit Zalkaliani, a top Georgian diplomat told his Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, that Georgia expresses solidarity with Armenia and is willing to help the Armenian government to tackle the challenges caused by the coronavirus outbreak. 

Zalkaliani did not specify the nature of possible help. 

Following the news, a group of Georgians launched an online petition asking their government to assist Armenia by treating some of their patients infected with coronavirus in Georgia.

In Krasnodar Krai, a lighter lockdown will last until 21 June

Despite a gradual decrease in the incidence rate of COVID-19 in Krasnodar Krai, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev, following the advice of local health authorities, has extended quarantine restrictions until 21 June.

Doctors have cited an increase in the number of visitors arriving to the region due to the start of the holiday season.

Despite the extension of quarantine restrictions, from 6 June, it will once again be permissible for the public to visit parks, beaches, outdoor summer terraces, outdoor cafes with separate entrances, among other public facilities.

According to the Governor, local authorities paid attention to the accumulation of large numbers of people in the only accessible places outdoors and, on the recommendation of Rospotrebnadzor, decided to give the public more places to ‘disperse’ in the open air. 

Veniamin Kondratyev also instructed to open kindergartens all over the region from 8 June for children from families ‘who have found themselves in a difficult life situation, including from single-parent families’.

Azerbaijan to lock down Baku and other cities over the weekend 

The Azerbaijani Government has announced that the cities of Baku, Sumgayit, Ganja, and Lankaran, as well as the Absheron District, will be completely locked down over the coming weekend, following an increase in new infections. 

Prime Minister Ali Asadov said that people in the affected areas would be allowed to leave their homes only in cases of absolute emergency — for urgent medical needs or if their lives are otherwise in danger. They will also be allowed to attend funerals of close relatives, with permission from the authorities.

Ramin Bayramli, the chair of the Management Union of Medical Territorial Units said at a briefing today that all shops and pharmacies would be closed in these cities over the weekend. 

He also said that media organisations should limit the number of journalists working, advising them to work from home. 

As of 6 June, 6,522 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Azerbaijan, an increase of 262 from the day before. According to the official figures, 3,737 patients have recovered and 78 have died.

Armenia: Mask wearing mandatory in all public spaces, including outdoors 

Armenia’s Special Commission on the State of Emergency has approved a new decision requiring citizens to wear a face mask at all times everywhere outside their homes, with the exception of children under six and for those who are exercising or cycling.

Up until now, it was obligatory to wear a face mask in shops, vehicles with more than two passengers, on public transport, at bus stops, and in other closed spaces. 

According to the Commission, due to the dire epidemiological situation in the country and the lack of capacity to treat new patients in hospitals, the government may resort to returning to restrictions on movement and economic activity. 

Abkhazia confirms new cases, shortly after reporting 0 active cases

Yesterday evening, Abkhazian authorities confirmed 7 new cases of COVID-19, hours after reporting that the three coronavirus patients were discharged from hospital. 

According to Abkhazian authorities, all seven are students who had returned from Moscow on Tuesday.

For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.

Armenian PM: Country has run out of hospital beds

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has announced that as of today there are patients ill with COVID-19 that cannot be hospitalised due to a lack of hospital beds. 

The Prime Minister also said this morning that the country has recorded 697 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the highest daily number so far. 

Summary

Welcome to OC Media’s coronavirus live updates for Thursday, 4 June. We will be bringing you the latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic from around the Caucasus.

The biggest developments from yesterday: 

Over 500 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Armenia yesterday, with only 27 recoveries in the same time frame.

According to Armenia’s National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, analysis of the epidemiological situation in March and April has shown that the number of confirmed cases has almost tripled within a span of one month. 

In an effort to curb infections, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been posting photos on his Facebook page of people violating safety regulations for the past two days and has called on others to do the same.

The Investigative Department of Karachay-Cherkessia has launched a criminal case in connection with appeals by doctors about the failure to pay them the promised premiums for working with COVID-19 patients, insufficient provision of personal protective equipment and other issues.

The ban on transportation via trains is to continue indefinitely in Georgia despite inter-city transportation coming back on 8 June. 

According to a new ruling by the Georgian government, the ban on rail transportation and domestic flights will continue — chartered flights will be allowed on a case by case basis. 

Read the latest stories:

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• Armenian COVID-19 ‘fake news’ site was funded by US
• ‘A lost year’ — How the global pandemic has hit Azerbaijan’s economy
• COVID-19 outbreak in Daghestan ‘significantly understated’
• Armenia continues to reopen despite steady growth in new cases of COVID-19
• Chechens ‘beaten and detained’ by security forces for leaving home on Eid al-Fitr
• New law allows Georgian government to restrict rights without declaring state of emergency
• WHO recommendations ‘widely disregarded’ in South Ossetia’s Akhalgori
• Man disappears in Grozny after returning to be with family during pandemic
• Georgian Health Ministry cancels contract for ‘Dutch-made’ tests that were made in China
• Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh ‘vulnerable to COVID-19 pandemic’
• Georgia plans corona-safe ‘tourist zones’
• Critical shortages‘ of protective equipment reported in Daghestan’s hospitals
• Transgender woman sets herself on fire in Tbilisi
• Voice | The women on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Police clash with anti-stay-at-home protesters in North Ossetia