Bishop Jacob Responds to Imnadze's Statement on 'Counting Coffins'

"I respect Paata Imnadze, but he should better count how many infected patients we really have," said Archbishop Jacob, one of the most influential figures in the Georgian Patriarchate of the recent past, in response to health official Paata Imnadze's statement that if the population does not stay at home and keep social distance, it might become difficult to count the coronavirus-related deaths in the country. 

Archbishop Jacob pointed out that there are actually many more infected patients in the country that the official statistics show. 

"I respect Paata Imnadze, but he should better count how many infected patients we have. Do you want to focus on the Church alone?! We don’t even have real data on the number of infected patients in the country! Ask the doctors about it,” he said. 

Imnadze, Deputy Head of the National Center for Disease Control, expressed concerns that if the population does not stay at home and keep social distance, the country will soon be facing a disaster. 

“People should understand that if we do not stay at home, we will not survive and we will have a high number of victims. We all need to understand this,” Imnadze told the Georgian Public Broadcaster.

In relation to the upcoming Easter holiday, he once again warned parishioners not to attend services in churches.

“We will not be able to count the coffins in Georgia! Do we want this? Stay at home!” he said. 

By Ana Dumbadze 

Related Story: Health Official: Stay at Home, or We Won't Be Able to Count the Coffins!