COVID-19 Daily Briefing (April 2)

12 a.m.

Yet another COVID-19 patient has died at the Nork Infectious Disease Hospital. The 76-year-old patient developed pneumonia and had pre-existing health issues including diabetes and hypertension. This brings the total number of COVID-19 deaths to seven in Armenia.

9:30 p.m.

A 78-year-old COVID-19 patient passed away this evening at the Nork Infectious Disease Hospital, according to the spokesperson of the Health Ministry. The patient had developed double pneumonia and also had pre-existing health issues, including diabetes and hypertension. The deceased was not a citizen of the Republic of Armenia. This brings the total number of COVID-19 deaths to six in the country.

3 p.m.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Health Alina Nikoghosyan confirmed in a Facebook post that a 68 year-old COVID-19 patient died at the Nork Infection Disease Hospital. Nikoghosyan said the patient developed double pneumonia and had pre-existing chronic health issues including coronary heart disease and respiratory issues. This brings the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 to five in the country.

12:30 p.m.

Armenia’s Health Minister Arsen Torosyan said during a press conference that on April 1, 328 tests were conducted, of which 92 came back positive. More than half of the 92 who tested positive were either already in quarantine or in self-isolation. The Minister said that there are also new infection sources, most of them “imported” by Armenian citizens who returned from other countries via air and cargo truck drivers.

According to Torosyan, these cases were discovered quite early, and even though contact tracing is underway, he believed they have not been in contact with many people. The new cases have mainly been discovered at border checkpoints and accordingly been transferred to hospitals or have been quarantined.

Taking into consideration these numbers, Torosyan said everyone must be more than vigilant in stopping the further spread of the virus by following instructions on hygiene, self-isolation and no movement with twice or three times the vigilance in order to break the chain of infections.Torosyan said this is everyone’s problem and people should approach it with a sense of personal responsibility. The Minister said doctors were unable to save the life of a 89-year-old citizen yesterday and the chain should be broken to especially safeguard the lives of the elderly and people with secondary health conditions [Note: A 68-year-old COVID-19 patient passed away following Torosyan’s press conference, bringing the total number of deaths to five in the country].

Torosyan said he thinks the number of recoveries will increase on a daily basis as a large number of previously confirmed patients are nearing their 14-day quarantine.

Currently, 16 hotels and guesthouses are being used to quarantine people, including patients who have tested positive but have light or no symptoms and also those who have simply come into contact with confirmed cases. Torosyan said this should give people an idea of the amount of work and organization that is being put into this effort. Each location needs an epidemiologist, medical staff, maintenance staff, catering … and all of this is being developed at a speed that would be required for wartime mobilization efforts.

Nine hospitals are now fully dedicated to healthcare delivery for COVID-19 patients. The main wing of the St. Gregory the Illuminator Hospital, which has the largest bed capacity in the country, will take the largest number of COVID-19 patients starting tomorrow. Torosyan said a number of other medical facilities have been refurbished, renovated and fitted to house patients and this has been done in an astonishingly short period of time. “A whole new healthcare system is being created in a logic similar to wartime mobilization efforts, and this is being done so that the main healthcare system can afford to continue rendering services to other patients. We cannot allow citizens with other health needs to be deprived of medical attention because of coronavirus,” said Torosyan.

The latest increase in numbers of patients cannot be considered a steep surge even though there is no denying that there are new sources of infection in the country, Torosyan said adding that the increase in numbers is also because of the additional daily testing that the Ministry is carrying out.

The Minister said it is impossible to predict when Armenia will reach its peak: “It could be at any moment. Peaks are usually visible post-factum, after the numbers start decreasing.” Torosyan said it is their aim to have that anticipated peak as soon as possible.

While 80 percent of patients in the country are asymptomatic, Torosyan said that does not mean there is no danger to a patient’s health. According to the Minister, it is preferable to have those patients in a hospital, even if they never had a fever, so that there can be operative medical intervention in case complications unexpectedly arise. Keeping the patients in hospitals is also a way to make sure they do not infect others.

Even though the Prime Minister announced that the situation in Armenia still remains under control, Torosyan noted there is the possibility that the country will reach a point when it will be impossible to trace each new case: “We are currently at a certain distance from that point and the aim is to put as much distance between our current situation and that point so that we never reach it.” In case the situation quickly escalates, Torosyan said the healthcare system will then be forced to only take care of patients with serious conditions and those with light cases will be told to stay home. Torosyan said everything is being done by the Health Ministry and the state apparatus to avoid having to take such a decision.

The Minister said that technically testing everyone in the country would be possible but that would have very little practical implication: “We can decide what to do with all the positive cases – hospitalize, quarantine – and at that point we will likely not have the capacity to do either. We can tell them to stay home and this still does not guarantee the health of those who have not been infected. There is still the possibility of them getting infected a day or two after they have been tested.” Therefore, according to Torosyan mass testing, to be effective, should be carried out at least periodically. The path Armenia has chosen is to increase its testing capacity and carry out an increasing number of tests but based on doctor’s recommendations. Torosyan said Armenia is close to carrying out 400-500 tests per day and with the purchase of new technology, Armenia will increase its testing capacity to 1500 tests per day.

Torosyan said that other than the foyer of the Karen Demirjyan complex, venues with the capacity to be turned into field hospitals have been identified in each of Armenia’s marzes. Armenia should be ready for any scenario: “There is nothing extraordinary about this, it would in fact be strange if we did not discuss all possible scenarios. We have also discussed worst-case scenarios when there is no room for patients in hospitals or even field hospitals, something that has happened in other countries.”

To avoid such scenarios, Torosyan again appealed to citizens and called for a heightened sense of personal responsibility: “A pandemic is no different from wars, earthquakes, floods and any other disasters, we should be ready for any scenario.”

Armenia Currently has 55 ventilators available and designated for COVID-19 patients only. Five of these ventilators are currently in use for five patients in critical condition – four elderly patients and a young person with an atypical form of pneumonia. An additional 20 ventilators will be available at the St. Gregory the Illuminator Hospital and about 100 of a certain kind of ventilator are expected to arrive from China on a charter flight; the same plane will also deliver five or six respirators of a different model. Another 50 have already been commissioned; 25 of the 50 will arrive in mid-April and the rest in mid-May.

Video from the Health Minister’s Facebook page. Torosyan wrote, “A 42-unit module building for patients waiting for their diagnosis, built in ten days.”