COVID-19 pandemic in South Ossetia

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached South Ossetia[nb 1] in May 2020.

COVID-19 pandemic in South Ossetia
DiseaseCOVID-19
Virus strainSARS-CoV-2
LocationSouth Ossetia (Georgia)
Index caseTskhinvali
Arrival date6 May 2020
(3 months, 1 week and 5 days)
Confirmed cases89
Active cases2
Recovered87
Deaths
0

Background

On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.[1][2]

The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003,[3][4] but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.[5][3]

Timeline

March 2020

Many schools and businesses in South Ossetia were closed on 20 March.[6]

April 2020

Borders between Russia and Georgia were closed on 5 April.[6]

May 2020

The first three cases of COVID-19 in South Ossetia were confirmed on 6 May. One of the cases was a retired man from North Ossetia, who arrived in South Ossetia on 20 April, and has been quarantined in a hospital since then. Another case, from Vladikavkaz, was a 14-year-old student of the Suvorov Military School. The third case also came from Vladikavkaz, but further details are unknown.[6]

Contact tracing has been conducted for these cases.

As of 24 May, there are a total of 37 cases in South Ossetia.[7]

Response

South Ossetia is a disputed territory in the South Caucasus, recognized by Russia and a few other countries as an independent state, but regarded by most of international actors as part of Georgia.[8]

Early in the pandemic, senior Georgian government officials called on the WHO and other international organisations to provide support to people living in the two breakaways. They said Georgia would not block movement to and from the regions. Unlike Abkhazia, South Ossetia refused to cooperate with Georgia and blocked movement from or to Tbilisi-controlled territory in February 2020. The South Ossetian authorities refused to admit the specialists from the WHO and other international organisations unless they entered through Russia rather than Georgia although the border with Russia had also been closed in March 2020.[8]

According to the International Crisis Group, of the fellow ex-Soviet breakaways, South Ossetia is at greatest risk due to high percent of elderly population (17%), severely under-equipped medical facilities, lack of properly trained medical professionals, and failure to procure significant aid from Russia, which generally provides a majority of the region's needs.[8]

Footnotes
  1. South Ossetia is the subject of a territorial dispute between South Ossetia and Georgia. The Republic of South Ossetia unilaterally declared independence on 21 December 1991, but Georgia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. South Ossetia has received formal recognition as an independent state from 6 out of 193 United Nations member states, 1 of which have subsequently withdrawn their recognition.
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References
  1. Elsevier. "Novel Coronavirus Information Center". Elsevier Connect. Archived from the original on 30 January 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  2. Reynolds, Matt (4 March 2020). "What is coronavirus and how close is it to becoming a pandemic?". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Archived from the original on 5 March 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  3. "Crunching the numbers for coronavirus". Imperial News. Archived from the original on 19 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  4. "High consequence infectious diseases (HCID); Guidance and information about high consequence infectious diseases and their management in England". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 3 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  5. "World Federation Of Societies of Anaesthesiologists – Coronavirus". www.wfsahq.org. Archived from the original on 12 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  6. "South Ossetia confirms first three cases of coronavirus". English Jamnews. 6 May 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  7. "COVID-19 Georgia Live Blog: Active Cases Decrease to 196". Civil Georgia. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  8. "The COVID-19 Challenge in Post-Soviet Breakaway Statelets". Crisis Group. 6 May 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.


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