PM: Irresponsible Politicians, Experts Spread False Information to Circulate Panic
“Recently some irresponsible politicians and experts have unfortunately been spreading false information to circulate an ungrounded panic among the public, which is absolutely unacceptable” stated Giorgi Gakharia, Prime Minister of Georgia at a press briefing held after the Inter-Agency Coordination Council at the Government Administration.
The Head of Government of Georgia stressed that dissemination of panic is the worst thing a responsible citizen may cause to the country.
“Today we had a regular meeting of the Coordination Council. It will be held daily. The main reason and purpose of my press-briefing is to share our position on a number of issues. Recently some irresponsible politicians and experts have unfortunately been spreading false information to circulate an ungrounded panic among the public, which is absolutely unacceptable. Dissemination of panic is the worst thing a responsible citizen may cause to the country, especially when it is groundless. Our joint fight has been successful in recent months because it was a consolidated, united battle at several front lines – be it COVID-19 to be curtailed or the economy to be rescued. We continue to fight this battle together with our citizens of course” noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
Giorgi Gakharia noted that unfortunately, the community transmission rate is currently rising to record-high numbers all over the world.
“Actually, we have a new record-high number every single week. A significant increase is also witnessed in Georgia. You may well be aware that during the first wave, we made the right assessment of our resources, took painful decisions and announced a rather hard lock-down, however, we should not forget that back then we did not have a stock of basic facemasks in the country and we were challenged with a deficit of this protective item. Back then we were administering 200 tests a day and no knowledge was held about the virus, like the rest of the world. Information was spreading and everyone hoped that a vaccine would become available in a few months. Unfortunately, it did not. Today we are in a completely different situation. Lock-down was absolutely the right decision back then, as we were primarily protecting the health and life of our citizens with this measure due to the high degree of uncertainty and lack of the basic facemasks. Today, when the entire world agrees that the facemask is the most effective means of fighting the virus, which reduces the likelihood of contraction by 90 percent, of course, we will no longer be announcing a similar lock-down. There is no necessity of it and besides the economy of the country will no longer sustain it” added the Head of Government of Georgia.
As noted by the Prime Minister of Georgia, the vaccine will not be available tomorrow or the day after. We will have to co-exist with the virus and the process of fight against the virus will be a long-lasting one, judging by what we see today.
“Hence, considering the long-lasting nature of it, our strategy is changing and it is manifested in the adaptation with the virus and its management. Hence, our most correct and justified decision will be to introduce targeted restrictions and to strike the right balance. I mean, a balance between the precision-targeted restrictions and correct execution of those rules that are set by our epidemiologists. Basically, we should wear face masks and keep a distance. These are the rules that the entire world has acknowledged. Hence, we should understand that these are not decisions, which we make daily and we should conceptualize that even when we do our best to curb the community transmission rate, numbers are still rising and we will continue witnessing it, of course” he noted.