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Interagency Coordination Council Discusses Intensive Testing Program Outcomes, Clinical Hotel Resources, and Restrictions Enforcement
2020-12-10 The outcomes of the intensive testing program under the Government's 2-month plan, resources available at clinical hotels, and the enforcement of restrictions were discussed at today's meeting of the Interagency Coordination Council chaired by Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, at the Government Administration. The meeting pointed out that, as part of the intensive testing program, 20,000-21,000 tests are conducted daily, and it should be commended that, despite the intensity of testing, the statistics of confirmed cases are not growing. According to epidemiologists, cautious optimism draws on the percentage of infections in the country dropping almost to 28%. The Interagency Coordination Council once again urges citizens with the slightest symptoms of the virus to contact medical institutions where state-funded tests are available, over 230 clinics in all throughout the country. A list of such clinics by region is available at https://stopcov.ge/ka/klinikebi. The council also discussed the availability of beds in the hospital sector and steps to secure additional ICU beds and medical equipment, with special emphasis on the role of COVID hotels where, on the Prime Minister's instructions, therapeutic elements are enhanced, and oxygen is supplied. The council pointed out that many clinical hotels-including such large hotels as Holiday Inn, Iveria Inn, Ramada, and others-are managed by respective clinics, to better the continuous medical supervision over patients transferred to COVID hotels. The meeting emphasized that, according to epidemiologists and healthcare experts, restrictions must be lifted with great care to avoid a rapid growth in mobility. The Coordination Council analyzes the country's epidemiological situation in detail and assesses the effect of the restrictions and the quality of their enforcement. The need to ensure the effective enforcement of Government-imposed restrictions and compliance with all recommendations was reiterated, including social distancing and facemask use. According to epidemiologists, even with restrictions imposed, facemask use is crucial for stabilizing the situation and flattening the curve, and it is necessary to increase facemask-use statistics from present 65% to 90-95%. Since the first coronavirus infection in the country, there have been 178,953 confirmed cases, with 148,332 recoveries and 1,657 fatalities. The Parliament of Georgia led by Speaker Archil Talakvadze, and the President's Administration, are actively involved in the work of the Interagency Coordination Council under the Prime Minister.
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