The special quarantine regime imposed on the territory of Azerbaijan in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which was due to expire on July 1, has been extended until October 2 at 06:00. The order was issued by Prime Minister Ali Asadov. This means that the country's land borders will be closed until at least October 2.
News
Trending stories
- 1 Eter Turadze to Shalva Papuashvili: This Law is Leading Our Country to Russia, It’s a Treason!
- 2 "All and Sundry on Rustaveli": Mobilization of Civil Servants for Georgian Dream’s Counter Rally
- 3 Georgian Government Declares May 7, 8, and 10 as Public Holidays
- 4 Bidzina Ivanishvili's Anti-Western Messages
- 5 Kaladze's Anti-Western Messages: More Than 90% of Funds Used to Strengthen Agency
- 6 Why We Will Not Allow Adoption of Russian Law - Gela Mtivlishvili, Journalist
The World Health Organization announced the end of the global emergency regime due to the Covid-19 pandemic on May 5. Despite this, the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan decided to extend the ban on crossing land borders.
Azerbaijan borders five states - Georgia, Russia, Armenia, Turkey, and Iran. Since March 2020, and it is possible to enter or exit the country only by air transport.
Land border closure is the only quarantine measure that has been kept up in Azerbaijan for over three years. The government does not elaborate on the continuation of the quarantine regime and each time, only releases similar short statements about the issue.
According to the 2009 headcount in the Republic of Azerbaijan, there are 9,900 Georgian citizens residing in the country. Unofficial data suggests their number exceeds 15 thousand. Georgians mainly live in Qakh, Zaqatala, and Balakan districts. The number of ethnic Azerbaijani citizens living in Georgia is much higher. According to the 2014 census, their number was 233,024, which makes up 6.3% of the entire population.
BBC, based on the data of the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan, wrote that in 2019, before the start of the pandemic, 60,000 people entered Azerbaijan from Georgia, of which 11,000, or less than 2%, traveled by plane. In 2022, as the land borders were closed, 83,000 people flew from Georgia to Azerbaijan. In 2019, 1.35 million people entered Georgia from Azerbaijan - 1.337 million crossed the border by land, and 16,000 by air. In 2022, 128 thousand citizens of Azerbaijan entered Georgia and all of them by plane.
