Tbilisi may have refused to let the insult slide because Georgia’s coronavirus response has become an electoral platform for the governing party, which faces a parliamentary vote this fall.
Two weeks after the country largely ended its lockdown, the number of coronavirus cases has shot up and the government is preparing to use a repurposed sports hall to treat patients.
Facebook has pulled the plug on a fake news operation in Georgia that had been capitalizing on the coronavirus pandemic to sway public opinion in favor of the government.
Armed forces on both sides appear not to have made many concessions to the need to social distance, but diplomats have held their first videoconference as part of the ongoing peace negotiations.
Georgia has received plaudits for its response to COVID-19. But as the biggest event in the Christian calendar approaches, the nation finds itself torn between church and state, faith and science.