Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia explained why Georgia had had no deaths from novel coronavirus so far in an interview with Fox News.

Implementing travel bans from hotspot countries as early as January, was key to their low transmission rate, Georgia Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia told Fox News.

“We took strong, decisive actions early without hesitation. We not only began screening temperature of all arrivals but beginning on January 28 we banned flights from all countries as soon as they became hotspots in the global outbreak, which led to a complete ban of international travelers,” Gakharia said. “We also took the early step of shutting down schools in mid-March and restricted public gatherings,” Georgian PM added.

According to Gakharia, Georgia saw the warning signs early on and acted on them. Georgia’s first official action came on January 22 when the Georgian National Center for Disease Control warned Georgians against traveling to Wuhan.

“At the time, we told Georgians there is a ‘small, but theoretical’ chance the virus could reach Georgia. A few days later, as everyone knows, the situation in Wuhan was becoming direr, and on January 26, we began checking all travelers returning from China,” PM said.

Gakharia explained that while the matter is seemingly under control, the threat – the official emphasized – is far from over.

“We are far from saying that the spread has stopped, but we have done the maximum we can to flatten the ‘curve’ of the spread,” Gakharia noted.

“We believe the situation is stabilizing. But we cannot overreact or move imprudently. We will continue to work with our experts at the Lugar Center of the Georgian National Center for Disease Control and other international health organizations to determine when to ‘re-open’ Georgia,” PM of Georgia claimed.

And despite the zero death rate, the nation’s economy – which is classified as an emerging free market and relies heavily on the cultivation and agricultural products and the mining of manganese, copper, and gold – has inevitably taken a hard hit.

“COVID-19 will leave its huge mark on our way of everyday life and our social behavior. For sure, it’s going to have an extremely negative effect on the world economy – market behavior is a clear testament to that,” Gakharia said. “Of course, the measures we have taken have had an economic impact. Like almost all countries, we have instituted social distancing and shut down non-essential businesses across the country.”

Gakharia said in the interview that the Georgian government has, however, announced an early economic rescue package, including hundreds of millions of dollars in business aid, deferring payment of property taxes and income taxes for several months, and providing VAT refunds to businesses to help with cash flow.