(Imedinews.ge)

Georgia will scale down most of restrictions imposed in February and March, including public transportation, shopping malls and even cafes and restaurants, PM Giorgi Gakharia said Wednesday.

Public transportation, including metro, buses and minibuses, will resume operating on Friday, while intercity travel will reopen on June 8. People shall wear medical face masks in all public transport. Patrol police will assist municipal authorities to oversee order at public transport.

From June 1 all shops, malls and markets, both indoor and outdoor, will also reopen, as well as open cafes and restaurants. The latter will be allowed to resume all operations from June 8.

The same day, June 8, those hotels which successfully undergo examination by the health ministry experts will also be allowed to reopen.

These steps have been preceded by an optimistic epidemiological picture, with by far more optimistic figures than in any other country of the region. On the other hand, the restrictions imposed by the government stirred mass irritation among the public, especially those who rely on their livelihood on petty businesses.

Last week Georgia has maintained very low level of new cases, which were far less of those of recoveries. By May 27 there were 732 Covid-19 cases in the country, with 183 active cases, six in critical condition and 12 deaths. The figures are by far below statistics of other countries in the neighborhood. For instance, according to Worldometers.info total cases per 1 million of population in Georgia on Wednesday afternoon was 183, while the same figure for Armenia is 2,498, for Azerbaijan it was 435, for Turkey it was 1,884, and for Russia it was 2,483.