Albania Almost Out of Lockdown after May 18

TIRANA – ‘Albanians will almost be 90 percent free to travel by May 18’ was the announcement made by Prime Minister Edi Rama during a live meeting of the Technical Committee of Experts on the pandemic the first being made public since its creation at the outset of the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic.

“This meeting is being held live, given the current situation and to address some issues. Thus, the public will directly follow your opinions in the conditions when, unfortunately, since some people have nothing to do, that fortunately the results speak for themselves, they deal with the Committee: Who are they?” What do they do? Why don’t do tests? Why don’t we know them? Who is the chairman of the Committee, etc.,” said Rama.

The question of who is who at the Committee has been the talk of the opposition which claimed that everything was run by Rama during this time of the pandemic.

The government head said that they are working to find a compromise formula regarding public transport within the city or intercity, while adding that the challenge remains not to allow a second wave of infection.

He expressed concern to the members of the Technical Committee of Experts about the possibility that in the conditions of the opening people start forgetting about the hidden enemy. “We have this invisible enemy among us and if we do not respect those simple rules and most known by all we can fall prey to another hit,” warned Rama, who insisted that an eventual second wave is not a return of the virus with new forces, but a surrender of people due to their misbehavior towards the power of the virus.

“This is a big challenge. We will look at the following, but let’s hope that people will continue to be careful and will do their simple tasks properly, especially when entering closed environments where there are many people like shopping malls, etc.,” said Rama.

In addition the PM said that the only thing remaining a concern is public transport by bus or van, especially intercity, but also in cities where efforts are being made to find a compromise formula in this regard. “While all the rest is being released significantly, it is understood by avoiding gatherings with more than 10 people, etc. We will be fully exposed, therefore we must have a greater intensity in communication and awareness with people,” Rama told the experts in charge of epidemic technicalities.

It was also introduced to the public the head of this Committee which is the Deputy Health Minister, Mira Rakacolli one of the most popular figures known by citizens because of the daily communications in the course of the progress of the pandemic./argumentum.al