In Georgia, residents of quarantine areas face social problems

In Georgia, residents of villages in the Marneuli and Bolnisi Districts are not informed how to behave under the strict quarantine regime, local residents report. They are concerned about the lack of money and food. People who need medical treatment in Tbilisi are not allowed to leave the closed quarantine area.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Marneuli and Bolnisi Districts in the Kvemo Kartli region, inhabited by ethnic Azerbaijanis, are closed for strict quarantine. 16 NGOs called on the Georgian authorities to duplicate information about the coronavirus infection in the Azerbaijani and Armenian languages, because most of residents of those regions do not know Georgian.

Residents of Marneuli began to obey the established rules, and now they rarely go out into the street, only when they need to buy food or medicine. However, many villagers still stay in the information vacuum, states local resident Giorgi Mumladze.

Due to a lack of information, many local residents consider the coronavirus infection to be an ordinary influenza, and some people even doubt its existence. The traditions of holding crowded wedding parties and funeral ceremonies also contribute to the spread of the coronavirus infection.

In Marneuli, young people who speak Georgian and have access to the Internet inform local residents about the situation, notes Ilkin Khuseinov, a resident of Marneuli.

The authorities began to use the Azerbaijani language to inform the residents of the Marneuli District about the coronavirus infection too late, just three days before the quarantine introduction, states Leyla Suleimanova, the head of the Marneuli NGO "Union of Azerbaijani Women". The activist also reported that two residents of Marneuli had problems with leaving for Tbilisi for medical treatment.