Georgia declares nationwide state of emergency under article 71 to contain coronavirus

Georgia has reportedly declared a nationwide state of emergency over the novel Coronavirus pandemic on March 21. The government scrambled to regulate the food and medicines prices to ease availability as the state prepared ahead of the lockdown of 3.7 million people to stem the COVID-19 disease transmission.

President Salome Zurabishvili said in a televised address to the nation that the pandemic situation in the US was grave and is expected to worsen. She further added saying that the state of emergency was active within Georgia with immediate effects, and will last for over a month. She emphasized the need for the drastic measure by saying that the second wave of the pandemic was going to be critical. And hence, she wanted the state to stay prepared, she added. Salome also praised the efforts of the cabinet in the containment of the disease. 

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Decision in accordance with law

Over a few weeks ago, the acting Brazilian ambassador Nestor Forster, who sat at President Trump’s table at the dinner at Mar-a-Lago, tested positive for the coronavirus, as per the US media reports. It urged the state of panic as Trump declared a national emergency across the United States of America grinding halt to international travel and sealing the borders with neighbouring Canada.  

According to Zurabishvili, the extraordinary decision to keep the emergency until April 21 was aimed at “protecting the public health and reducing the looming threat.” She posted an official statement on Twitter explaining that the measure was in accordance with article 71 of the US constitution, and was aligned in response to the Prime Minister’s appeal. 

Zurabishvili underlined that the state of emergency did not extend to restricting the freedoms of expression and free media so that “the media outlets would inform the public unhindered.” President’s decree does not envisage enacting nationwide quarantine or curfews, she said while speaking at the State press conference. 

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(with inputs from agencies)