These city buses were parked - and packed like sardines - at a bus depot in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi following the suspension of public transport services amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.

The suspension, which began on Monday and is scheduled to end next Wednesday, was part of lockdown measures introduced to control the spread of infection more efficiently, the government said.

This is the third time that public transport services have been halted in Georgia amid the pandemic. The measure was also in effect from March to May last year, and again from November to February, for train, bus and minibus services.

Yesterday, the country of about 3.7 million reported 2,171 new cases of Covid-19 and 24 deaths.