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| - Cafes, restaurants and shopping malls reopened Monday in Georgia as the Black Sea country that has confirmed fewer than 800 virus cases continued to ease lockdown measures. On a sunny afternoon, cafe terraces in the Old Town of the capital Tbilisi -- a whimsical mixture of Art Nouveau buildings and mediaeval churches -- remained largely deserted. "The virus fears persist. We've only had two customers today," a waiter at one of the cafes, Natia Gotua, told AFP. Sitting on the terrace of a trendy cafe in central Tbilisi, students Maya Beridze and Nino Kupatadze struck a more optimistic note. They said the virus situation was not dire enough for strict measures to remain in place any longer. "Luckily, Georgia is among the least affected countries," said Beridze. "The time has come for life to get back to normal." The ex-Soviet nation of 3.7 million has so far reported 794 coronavirus cases and 12 deaths -- one of the lowest rates in Europe. Nearly 80 percent of the patients have already recovered and there were only 158 active cases on Monday. But Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia told a televised cabinet meeting that the relaxing of anti-virus measures "increases the risk of the virus's spread." He called for the public to "strictly follow basic rules" such as wearing face masks in public places. On Friday, public transport started running again while the country had already reopened smaller shops and allowed industrial production to resume on May 11. The government has said the country will reopen to foreign tourists from July 1, while domestic tourism will resume earlier, in mid-June. In March, Georgia imposed strict anti-virus measures. It closed all non-essential businesses and declared a state of emergency and a nightly curfew that was lifted on May 22. The restrictions hammered the country's economy which contracted in April by 16.6 percent year-on-year, according to official statistics. This year the country's economy is forecast to shrink by 4 percent, instead of the previously projected 4.5 percent growth. Last month, the government unveiled a $1.2-billion stimulus plan and international financial institutions pledged $3 billion in emergency funding aimed at combating the economic downturn. im/am/cdw
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