We want to hear from you! You can send us your stories, photos, and videos about the coronavirus via Facebook, Twitter, or email at contact@oc-media.org.

That’s it for today, join us again tomorrow for more Coronavirus live updates.

Daghestanis set up field camps to shelter stranded Azerbaijanis

Daghestan's Emergency Situations Ministry announced today that they were setting up tents to temporarily shelter Azerbaijani nationals stranded in the southern Magaramkent District of Daghestan due to border closure. 

The Emergency Ministry vowed to finish the camp on the border of Magaramkentski and Derbentski districts by 12 May. They said it would include tents to live in, a field kitchen, and a medical unit for 210 Azerbaijanis.

Several hundred Azerbaijani citizens, sheltered in hostels, resorts, and mosques in southern Daghestan, are still waiting for the opening of Azerbaijani border to be able to return home. 

South Ossetia’s coronavirus cases reach 22 in four days

Four days after the first confirmed case of COVID-19, South Ossetian authorities announced they had registered 22 cases. 

According to Anna Gagloyeva, Deputy Chief Medical Officer of South Ossetia, 14 of the infected individuals are South Ossetian students who had recently returned from Russian military schools.

Gagloyeva said they are keeping 267 people in quarantine in hospitals and a hotel while the remaining 43 have been self-isolating at home. 

In spite of cancelling traditional Victory Day celebrations on 9 May and urging public several times to take the outbreak seriously, South Ossetian President Anatoly Bibilov led ‘personal military parades’ for local World War II veterans on Saturday by visiting and honouring them outside of their homes with music and marches. 

No social distancing was observed and face masks were not worn by most of the participants, including the elderly war veterans. 

 For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.

Armenia’s COVID-19 infections doubling weekly

Armenia’s Health Minister Arsen Torosyan announced last night that the number of COVID-19 cases in the country is doubling every 15 days.

Torosyan shared a graph which indicates that Armenia’s coronavirus numbers doubled from 1,596 on 23 April, to 3,175 on 8 May.

Based on this dynamic, by 24 May, Armenia may have as many as 6,350 confirmed cases, and 12,700 confirmed cases by 8 June.

Most agricultural markets in Georgia ‘reopened’

As of today, 64 out of 90 agricultural markets in Georgia have been reopened, the country’s National Food Agency announced today. 

The agency said that most of the markets currently inactive are seasonal and will restart when due. 

Georgian authorities have started a gradual reopening of agricultural markets in late April, after closing them earlier that month due to lack of sanitary measures that would prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. 

Summary

Welcome to OC Media’s coronavirus live updates for Sunday, 10 May. We will be bringing you the latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic from around the Caucasus.

The biggest developments from yesterday:

The Director of Tbilisi’s Infectious Diseases Hospital, Tengiz Tsertsvadze, has told journalists that Georgia had avoided a ‘steep peak’ in coronavirus cases and that it is currently experiencing a plateau. 

Russian rights group Memorial stated that the official numbers of those killed by novel coronavirus in Ingushetia (28 at the time) ‘raised serious doubts’. 

Groups critical of the government of Daghestan’s response to COVID-19 have announced an alternative Popular Headquarters against Coronavirus. According to news agency RIA Derbent, the Headquarters aims to monitor and collect ‘objective information’ regarding the pandemic and to ‘come up with systemic solutions’ to the ongoing crisis. 

The authorities in Abkhazia confirmed four new cases; there were previously no confirmed active cases in Abkhazia.

Read the latest stories:

• Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh ‘vulnerable to COVID-19 pandemic’
• Georgia plans corona-safe ‘tourist zones’
• South Ossetia confirms first three coronavirus cases
• Protests in Azerbaijan over job losses and unpaid leave
• Critical shortages‘ of protective equipment reported in Daghestan’s hospitals
• Transgender woman sets herself on fire in Tbilisi
• Amnesty International questions Caucasus governments’ response to pandemic
• Georgian opposition demand answers after former official ‘breaches driving ban’
• Voice | The women on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Azerbaijan opposition party claims nearly a dozen members arrested in last two weeks
• Farmers in Georgia’s Marneuli protest inability to sell crops 
• Police clash with anti-stay-at-home protesters in North Ossetia 
• In pictures | Life under quarantine in Gyumri
• Georgian social workers forced to pay for taxis to visit domestic abuse victims