Update – 21.05.2020

May 21, 2020

RUSSIA

On Thursday, May 21^st, Russia recorded 8 849 new cases of coronavirus in 84 Russian regions, raising the official number of positive results to 317,554 with 3,099 dead. 42% of infected Russians had no clinical symptoms of the disease. The majority of new COVID-19 cases (2,913) were registered in Moscow, raising the total number of Muscovites with confirmed COVID-19 to 155,219. In the meantime, a total number of 92,681 Russian patients are known to have recovered from coronavirus. Russia is now the 2^nd most-affected country in the world in terms of confirmed cases, after the USA.

On Friday, May 15^th, Moscow began testing thousands of randomly-chosen residents for coronavirus antibodies under a mass screening program. Authorities hope this will help determine when it is safe to lift the city’s lockdown restrictions. According to data for May 19, the first 10 thousand tests for coronavirus antibodies have already been conducted. As part of the program, around 70,000 residents will be invited every several days to undergo a free blood test at one of 30 different clinics across the city. On Tuesday, May 19th, Moscow Mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said that about 100 thousand coronavirus test per day are currently being conducted in the capital per day. “We hope to develop this system to 200 000 by the end of the month,” the capital’s mayor said.

On Monday, May 18^th, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced that in compliance with objective indicators, 27 regions of Russia are ready to mitigate the restrictions introduced to combat COVID-19. He explained that the prevalence rate of COVID-19 over the past few days in 27 regions has “not exceeded one,” which means that each COVID-19 positive person infects less than one healthy person on average. With this ratio, the number of cases should gradually decrease, as the previously infected people recover.

On Monday, May 18^th, The Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) issued recommendations on the organization of air, water and road transportation to lower the continued risks of coronavirus spread. When selling tickets, airlines are recommended to follow the principle of social distancing. To this aid, the total number of passengers in the cabin should not exceed 50% of the total number of seats. Earlier, the Ministry of Transport indicated that the introduction of social distancing would lead to a serious increase in airfares – to be cost-effective, the cabin occupancy must be 72–75%.

As stated by the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism, as of June 1^st, some regions of Russia will be able to reopen for tourists and partly open hotels with a medicine license, as well as hotels offering accommodation in separate villas, apartments and cottages.

Kazakhstan:

On Thursday, May 21, Kazakhstan recorded 265 new cases of coronavirus in 15 regions, raising the official number of positive results to 7234 with 35 dead.

According to Prime-Minister of Kazakhstan Eral Tugzhanov, starting from May 18 the following objects will resume work:
- hotel complexes;
- catering facilities with a capacity of up to 30 seats;
- catering facilities operating outdoors with summer areas, in accordance with sanitary requirements

Starting from June 1, a phased resumption of the internal rail service is planned, taking into account the requirements of the Chief State Sanitary Doctor in transport.

Azerbaijan:

On Wednesday, May 20^th, Azerbaijan recorded 113 new cases of coronavirus, raising the official number of positive results to 3631, with 43 dead.

Since May 18^th, Baku, Sumgait, Ganja, Lankaran and Absheron have been allowed to resume the operations of restaurants and cafes. Restaurants, cafes and other public facilities are allowed to receive customers from 08:00 to 18:00. At the same time, the ban on the use of hookah remains in place.

Georgia:

On Thursday, May 21^st, Georgia recorded 8 new cases of coronavirus, raising the official number of positive results to 721, with 12 dead.

On Thursday, May 14^th, Georgian Minister of Economy, Natia Turnava, said that more than 20 airlines have expressed a desire to resume flights to Georgia. The list includes Wizair, Ryanair, Turkish Airlines, Israeli Airlines and others. The Irish low-cost airline, Ryanair, has already announced its intention to start flights to Tbilisi from Cologne and Milan starting in early July.

On Monday, May 18^th, Georgia’s government announced opening of its borders to international tourism on July 1st. The country’s government is actively working to create additional control areas and has been implementing public health recommendations in the private sector that will prevent the spread of the virus as much as possible. Batumi and Adjara will be one of the first regions where tourists can relax by the sea, in the mountains and in national parks etc.

Ukraine:

On Thursday, May 21^st, Ukraine recorded 476 new cases of coronavirus, raising the official number of positive results to 19706, with 579 dead.

On May 11^th, Ukrainian authorities eased restrictive measures. Non-food stores, open-air areas of restaurants and cafes have started to operate in the country, while the ban on walking in parks has been lifted. In Kyiv, easing of restrictive measures began on May 12^th. Meanwhile, public transport operations are limited, and citizens (including health and police workers) can use it only with special passes. The next phase of quarantine lifting is scheduled for May 22^nd.

On Tuesday, May 19^th, the Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure, Vladislav Krikliy, and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Natela Turnava, discussed the resumption of regular passenger air traffic between the two countries. Turnava said that Georgia is ready to open its borders for regular international flights on July 1^st.

Tour operator JoinUp! announced the launch of tours to Croatia from June 28^th. The tour operator promises a direct flight from Kyiv twice a week. Two flight options are indicated in the booking system on the operator’s website: a Roza Vetrov airline flight to Split and a SkyUp flight to Dubrovnik via Tivat, Montenegro.

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