The Albanian Government has declared the Covid-19 epidemic a national emergency under the Civil Emergencies Act. The decision was published in Government’s Official Records on Tuesday evening.
The Minister of Health had already declared the state of a public health emergency, under the Prevention of Contagious Diseases Act.
The Government is now empowered to take extraordinary measures including the limitation of people’s movements, imposing isolation or quarantine on individuals or the entire population, house-to-house searches by civil emergency personnel, etc.
The government is also obliged to compensate all individuals and businesses for any damages or losses arising from the natural disaster or government’s extraordinary measures to cope with the disaster.
Albania is under a national lockdown, with people allowed to move out only between 05:00 and 13:00 during the day; all public gatherings are banned, and only food stores and pharmacies remain open.
As of Tuesday evening, Albania had 123 infected people and five victims.
