Six Employees of Georgia's Ministry of Defense Test Positive for Coronavirus

Six employees of the National Guard of Georgia have tested positive for coronavirus, having been in self-isolation since March 21, according to imedinews.ge.

Following the confirmation of the virus, strict preventive measures have been implemented within the Ministry of Defense. All individuals who had direct or indirect contact with the infected persons have been self-isolated or placed in quarantine. Specifically, all infected individuals and those who had contact with them have been transferred to the hospital in Gori.

The source of the infection has been identified; one of the infected reported having contact with a relative who returned from Azerbaijan. The number of those infected is likely not to be high, as most employees of the National Guard worked remotely from March 12 to 24 upon the Minister of Defense's order. They returned to barracks on March 21, which minimizes the potential for spreading the infection.

In the meantime, Georgia has canceled its contract for the supply of COVID-19 rapid tests with the Chinese company Shenzhen Bioeasy Biotechnology. All tests suspected of having questionable quality have been returned to China. Negotiations are underway with another company, and the first batch of two thousand tests is expected to arrive in Georgia soon. If the quality of the tests meets the required standards, additional batches will be procured.

According to Tikaradze's statement, all tests being delivered to Georgia are carefully inspected, and only after this verification are they used for diagnostics.

As of now, there are 85 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Georgia, of which 16 individuals have already recovered.