TIRANA, April 23 – The Albanian parliament approved the government’s proposal to extend the state of natural disaster in the country until June 23. During Thursday’s plenary session, 91 MPs voted in favor of the extension while 5 voted against it and 3 abstained.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Monday that the government was planning to extend the state of natural disaster for another two months in order to contain the coronavirus.
The chairwoman of the Democratic parliamentary group, Rudina Hajdari, MPs Ralf Gjoni and Myslym Murizi were among those who opposed the decision, arguing that the government has not given a logical explanation as to why this decision was taken, especially since the numbers and statistics regarding the pandemic do not justify the two-month extension of the state of natural disaster.
On March 24, the government declared a state of natural disaster for 1 month due to the coronavirus pandemic. Based on the decision published in the Official Journal, all public institutions, private entities, nationals and bodies of the KNEC are each assigned their responsibilities and duties during the state of emergency.
Among others, public institutions are to implement plans of organizational and administrative measures to cope with the state of natural disaster, use the financial resources provided for in the annual budget, and to reassess their annual budget, provide human and logistical resources, designate state-owned facilities under their administration responsibility, restrict access to public places which are widely frequented, to stop gatherings, and strikes, limit the activities to the minimum necessary for all public bodies and quarantine all persons confirmed or suspected of being affected by COVID-19.
Moreover, public institutions will have to establish and provide staffed quarantine zones, which shall be provided with all preventive measures to prevent infection, to guarantee conditions and qualified staff for specialized treatment in quarantine centers as provide all staff of hospital and health centers with the necessary basic tools to avoid the spread of the virus.
Citizens are asked to respect the decisions taken during this time period as well as go into self-isolation and quarantine if necessary. Private entities share similar duties with citizens, but are also asked to suspend their business activity until further notice.
Meanwhile, some of the duties of the operational bodies of the KNEC’s duties include the organization of the quarantine procedure for people at risk and controls of buildings and private facilities to identify and treat persons affected by the virus and the restriction of free movement within or outside the country based on the state of natural disaster.
