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Daghestan to pay higher salaries to medical professionals working with COVID-19 patients 

Authorities in Daghestan have issued a decree on additional pay for doctors working in hospitals where patients with COVID-19 and community-acquired pneumonia are admitted. The money will be coming from the budget of the republic. 

Doctors and specialists with a higher non-medical education providing specialised care in hospitals will be paid an additional ₽40,000  ($540) per month; Nursing staff — ₽30,000 ($400) per month; junior medical personnel and other employees - ₽20,000 ($270) per month.

For those working in deserts, waterless areas, and highlands, the actual payments will be calculated based on a pre-existing district pay multiplier.

 

7 people detained after protest about unemployment in Azerbaijan

The Interior Ministry, along with the Prosecutor General's Office has stated that seven people were detained after the protest in front of the city’s executive authorities in Bilasuvar, southeastern Azerbaijan, on Monday. 

According to the report, two of the protestors were charged with hooliganism and disobeying the police. Five were charged with petty hooliganism.

72 medical workers infected with COVID-19 in Georgia

Seventy-two medical workers have been infected with COVID-19, Georgian Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze confirmed on Tuesday.

She elaborated that it’s not right to single out  COVID-19 patients by their profession, though she stated it should place under consideration whether the virus spread through a violation of hygiene protocols. 

She added that quite often emergency medical workers had visited patients without special equipment because patients hadn’t provided thorough-enough information.

Tsertsvadze: No COVID-19 cluster after Georgia’s Easter celebrations

According to the General Director of Tbilisi's Infectious Diseases hospital, Tengiz Tsertsvadze, Georgia has witnessed no rise of COVID-19 cases 'connected to religious festivities'. 

Talking with Adjara TV yesterday night, Tsertsvadze said that,  ‘the population had a very good and reasonable reaction to the government's recommendations, and the church itself took a very correct and good position’, as a result, he said, no new coronavirus cluster appeared in Georgia after the Easter celebrations on the night of 18 April. 

The Easter liturgies in several major churches in Georgia were held despite a curfew and after senior medical professionals urged the public to stay at home. 

According to WHO, ‘incubation time between date of exposure and date of symptom onset can be up to 14 days’ though longer outliner cases have also been detected. 

It has also been acknowledged by the international medical community that some of those infected with COVID-19 never exhibit symptoms but can still transmit the virus to others.

Chechnya providing humanitarian assistance to Daghestan. 

In Daghestan, which has confirmed over 2,000 cases of COVID-19 a special operational headquarters has been set up to assist families in need which will be supervised by Adam Delimkhanov adviser to the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, Grozny-Inform reports.

North Ossetia’s hospitals reportedly facing overcrowding

In the capital of North Ossetia, Vladikavkaz, the Clinical Emergency Hospital and the Republican Clinical Hospital where patients with COVID-19 are admitted have become overcrowded state television channel Alania reports.

Meanwhile, in the Republican Clinical Hospital, the second in the region by the number of COVID-19 patients admitted, doctors perform 200 CT scans daily (a procedure sometimes carried out during the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19), which exceeds the usual norm sevenfold, OsNova  reports.

Daghestan hits over 2,000 confirmed infections

Today, medical authorities have confirmed an additional 128 cases of COVID-19 cases in Daghestan. The total number of cases now stands at 2086. 

On Sunday evening, local authorities put the central Daghestani city Khasavyurt under lockdown and banned inner-city transport except emergency vehicles. 

Citing chief physician Asiyat Tagirbekova, local independent outlet Chernovik has reported that the Central City Hospital in Khasavyurt has been overwhelmed with patients, and is suffering from understaffing due to infections among medical workers and the recent ban on transport that has made it difficult for some doctors to get to work. . 

North Caucasus Federal District to receive ₽2 billion for small and medium businesses 

Territories of the North Caucasus Federal District (which includes Chechnya, Daghestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia-Alania, and Stavropol Krai)  have been allocated more than ₽2 billion ($27 million) from the federal budget to support small and medium businesses.

Karachay-Cherkessia will receive the most funds, while Stavropol Krai will receive the least, Regnum reports.

Karachay-Cherkessia head promises higher salaries for medical workers

The Head of Karachay-Cherkessia Rashid Temrezov announced that the bonus pay of medical workers working with COVID-19 patients in the region will be increased. 

On Monday, Temrezov wrote on his Instagram account that due to the ‘importance’ of medical workers ‘working in hospitals with COVID-19 patients’, monthly salaries will be increased. Doctors’ salaries will be raised to a total of ₽183,800 ($2,476), nurses to ₽122,400 ($1,648), and orderlies to  ₽82,890 ($1,117).

Summary

Welcome to OC Media’s coronavirus live updates for Tuesday, 5 May. We will be bringing you the latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic from around the Caucasus.

The biggest developments from yesterday:

Dozens of people in Bilasuvar, southeastern Azerbaijan, protested in front of the city’s executive authorities yesterday morning against unemployment, social problems and hunger. ‘People are dying of starvation’, they shouted.

Armenia’s Health Ministry announced that there has been a surge in the number of new cases, especially critical cases, most of which are connected to the emergence of several new infection hubs.

According to the ministry, in terms of the number of PCR tests done in relation to a confirmed case, Armenia’s ranking is similar to that of Japan and Italy, which ‘is not a bad ranking.’

Armenia’s Health Ministry also confirmed yesterday that three patients that had previously been classed as ‘recovered’ and had tested negative for COVID-19 have again tested positive two weeks after being discharged. According to the ministry, the three were not re-infected but inactive particles of the virus had remained within the body’s tissue.

Entry and exit into the city of Khasavyurt, central Daghestan, was prohibited from Sunday evening, the city administration has reported. In addition, driving inside the city has been prohibited except for emergency vehicles.

The ban on entry and exit to two of Georgia’s largest cities, Batumi and Kutaisi, will be lifted from today Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has said. The restrictions will remain in force for Tbilisi and Rustavi.

Georgian companies benefiting from state financial aid will be fined if they provide false information about their employees. According to the Georgian Finance Minister Ivane Machavariani, the fines will be twice the sum of the aid they applied for.

Read the latest stories:

• 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