Baku residents express their dissatisfaction with partial lifting of quarantine restrictions

Restrictions on the operation of public transport and catering outlets to be still in force after the easing of the quarantine regime caused discontent among Baku residents.

The operational headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan has announced the cancellation of the system of SMS permissions for leaving home starting from August 5. Meanwhile, some restrictions of the strict quarantine regime will still stay in force in Baku and other cities. In particular, the public transport will not operate on Saturdays and Sundays until August 31. The activities of large shopping centres and malls will be still banned. The ban on the provision of services in public catering facilities also stays in force.

The residents of Baku have expressed their dissatisfaction with some of the restrictions.

"It turns out that beaches have been opened, but public transport will not operate on Saturdays and Sundays. And how should we get to the beaches?" Samir Akhundov, a resident of Baku, expressed his displeasure.

Aliaga Balarzaev, a resident of the Novkhany village, noted that he had lost his income because of the ban on the operation of beach cafes.

"Every year I rented a small cafe on our Novkhany beach. In general, there was enough income for the whole year. However, I've got no work this year, because the beaches were closed. Now the authorities allowed opening the beaches, but cafes are still banned from operation. Meanwhile, the cafes are facilities operating on the open air. All the same, people will gather on the beaches. We could arrange tables away from each other. I used to employ ten people working here at the cafe. Now all of them stay without work," Aliaga Balarzaev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 4, 2020 at 11:32 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.