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

Entrepreneur sues Governor of Krasnodar Region over stay-at-home order

According to Region.Online, Nikolay Molchanov, a lawyer and entrepreneur, has sued Governor Veniamin Kondratyev because he believes that the authorities did not have the right to impose the stay-at-home order. His opinion, reportedly, is that the stay-at-home order in the region infringes upon the Russian Constitution.

‘I, because the president declared non-working days, was obliged to pay salaries to my employees who are sitting at home’, Molchanov told Za Krasnodar RU. ‘I am unjustifiably incurring losses: I pay rent, pay taxes, pay wages, and for almost two months now I have not been carrying out any activity and am deprived of such an opportunity’.

Health official blames ‘Russian media’ over big outbreak in south Georgia

Deputy Director of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control Paata Imnadze has accused ‘Russian media’ for contributing to the coronavirus outbreak in Bolnisi Municipality's Mushevani village. 

Imnadze claimed that Russian media popular in the region falsely informed local residents that COVID-19 was an 'ordinary virus' and 'there was nothing to fear'. 

The Deputy Director described the outbreak in villages of Mushevani, Khatisopeli and Vanati that had been under lockdown since 25 April, as reaching an ‘almost Italy’ level of severity. He also underlined that the outbreak was not the fault of any single ethnic community and that both ethnic Georgian and ethnic Azerbaijani communities in the municipality showed carelessness.

'Bolnisi is an example of what could have happened in Georgia if the public didn't obey all of the government’s instructions’, he said.

‘Strong second wave’ of COVID-19 expected in Georgia in late autumn

According to Paata Imnadze, Deputy Director of Georgia's National Centre for Disease Control, Georgia should expect a ‘strong second wave' of COVID-19 infections from the end of autumn. 

Talking to Georgian newspaper Kviris Palitra, Imnadze said that it is ‘highly probable’ that the COVID-19 virus will be ‘very active’ in the coming winter.

North Ossetia’s Health Minister ‘on sick leave’

Several Russian news outlets have reported that North Ossetia – Alania’s  Minister of Health, Tamerlan Gogichayev, who is also a Deputy Head of Republic, has gone ‘on a sick leave’ starting today.

The agency has not confirmed nor denied if Gogichayev contracted COVID-19.

Spiritual administrations of Muslims in the North Caucasus urge worshippers to celebrate Eid al-Fitr at home

The religious authorities of Muslims in Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Stavropol Krai, Krasnodar Krai, Adygea and Daghestan have called on the faithful to celebrate Eid al-Fitr with their families at home. Mosques will be closed and collective prayers in these regions will be cancelled.

‘There is also a small sad wish or, rightly speaking, an urgent request: do not leave the house for the holiday, not to visit relatives, neighbours and friends this year for a festive celebration’, Akhmad Afandi, the Mufti of Daghestan, said in a video message.’ Let's celebrate this day in our homes, with our families and wish good to everyone in this world.’

‘I also strongly recommend not visiting the cemetery this year’, he added.

Khabib Nurmagomedov: ‘many’ relatives have succumbed to COVID-19

UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has called on his fellow Daghestanis to observe shelter-at-home rules during Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan (23-24 May).

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Khabib Nurmagomedov (@khabib_nurmagomedov) on May 18, 2020 at 11:53am PDT

In a video address posted to Instagram on Monday, Nurmagomedov revealed that ‘over 20’ of his close friends and relatives, including his father, have been infected with COVID-19 and hospitalised, with 'many of them' succumbing to complications caused by the virus.

Georgia lifts quarantine in eight villages in Bolnisi

The Georgian government has lifted the quarantine in eight villages in the southern Bolnisi Municipality.

 

The decision came four days after the government put another village, Geta, and kept the village of Mushevani village under a strict lockdown following 15 new cases being confirmed between them. 

In addition to the few villages under stricter control, a state of emergency remains in force in Bolnsi Municipality but is due to expire along with the rest of the country on 22 May.

Summary

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

The biggest developments from yesterday: 

Georgia’s Marneuli Municipality has reopened after 55 days under lockdown. People were not allowed to enter or exit Marneuli since 23 March. The municipality has been one of the hotspots of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. 

On Saturday, a number of doctors and medical workers of the Central Republican Hospital in Gudermes, Chechnya's second-largest city, apologised on camera and retracted statements they had made last week in which they discontent over a lack of personal protective equipment.

Meanwhile, a Chechen man who returned from Moscow to be with his family during the COVID-19 pandemic has been missing for over a month, his mother has told OC Media. Zina Khadzhiyeva said neighbours saw her son, Eduard Khadzhiyev, being taken away by unknown men in military fatigues.

Read the full story: Man disappears in Grozny after returning to be with family during pandemic.

Read the latest stories:

• Georgian Health Ministry cancels contract for ‘Dutch-made’ tests that were made in China
• 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
• Voice | The women on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic
• 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