TBILISI – Georgia will send doctors to Armenia to help fight the coronavirus and will provide its neighbour with 10,000 diagnostic tests free of charge, Georgian officials said on Thursday.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said the request was made by his Armenian counterpart, Nikol Pashinyan, who said on Monday he and his whole family had recovered from COVID-19, a week after announcing they had tested positive.
“Medical personnel will be dispatched as the first phase of such assistance,” Gakharia told a government meeting.
Georgia had also suggested that Armenia use the capabilities of the Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research in the Georgian capital Tbilisi to test Armenian citizens for COVID-19, said Amiran Gamkrelidze, head of the Georgian National Center for Disease Control and Public Health.
Gamkrelidze said Georgia could perform 500 to 1,000 diagnostic tests of Armenian citizens in Georgia on a daily basis, or hand over 10,000 tests to Armenia.
Armenia’s Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan had a telephone conversation with his Georgian counterpart Ekaterine Tikaradze on Thursday. Issues related to therapeutic and anti-epidemic measures were discussed. The health officials presented the epidemic situation in their countries, exchanged views on the measures taken to address the challenge at the national level, and discussed the perspectives of mutual assistance.
The partners agreed to create a permanent platform for the exchange of experience. In this regard, an agreement was reached to hold the first such discussion in the form of a video conference with the participation of the Ministers of Health of the two countries.
An agreement was reached to organize bilateral strategic discussions on anti-epidemic measures, especially to be ready for the possible spread of the epidemic in the fall.
