COVID-19 Update (July 3-6)

• Pashinyan thanked the Armenian Red Cross Society for taking initiative and placing over 30 stands across Yerevan, where volunteers are distributing face masks to citizens and informing them about the anti-epidemic rules. The PM expressed hope that other organizations will also take such initiatives because individual actions matter in overcoming the pandemic.
• Police continue monitoring compliance with the anti-epidemic rules and filing reports against those citizens who do not wear face masks. Pashinyan stressed that the Government’s goal is not to impose fines but rather encourage citizens to follow the regulations.
• The Government will be required to reimpose strict restrictions, if and when the healthcare sector reaches a point when it is no longer able to expand its capacity and provide support to all those patients who need treatment. Pashinyan expressed hope that people will realize the importance of the situation and that the Government will be able to avoid such a scenario.

Health Minister Arsen Torosyan:

• Over the weekend, there are about 1000 new confirmed cases of COVID-19; the situation is stable in the sense that consistently 30% of all tests are coming back positive, Torosyan said. While the stability could be seen as a good sign, i.e. there is no increase, however, this percentage is still too high. The Minister said that they are continuing their operations to ensure a drop in the numbers.
• Torosyan spoke about the capacity of hospitals and said that there are 2600 hospital beds, of which 2300 are regular beds which are equipped with oxygen generators and 300 are for patients in ICUs; while refraining from providing how many of those beds are currently occupied, he did note that ICU beds are almost at capacity.
• There are 650 patients in serious and critical condition combined; 47 patients are on ventilators.
• As of 3 p.m. today, there are no patients who are at home awaiting hospitalization; there are 20 patients in different medical centers/hospitals who need to be transferred to medical facilities handling COVID-19 patients.
• Speaking about the effectiveness of their actions, Torosyan said that even under this critical but stable condition, when we have about the same percentage of new cases daily, is thanks to anti-epidemic measures. He explained that these kinds of pandemics tend to spread exponentially and that this is not the case presently.
• Ensuring that everyone wears masks – even if there isn’t total compliance – has shown that this is an effective measure. If this was not in place, we would have many more confirmed cases than we do today. Torosyan thanked all those citizens who have been wearing face masks properly and by doing so prevented the death of dozens if not hundreds of people.
• He appealed to all those who have not been complying with the anti-epidemic measures of washing/disinfecting hands, maintaining physical distancing and wearing masks and said that these measures are effective.
• By doubling our efforts in this regard, Torosyan said that we will be able to slowly push back against the virus.
• While the healthcare system is still able to treat patients, the objective is to have fewer cases.
• In closing, Torosyan appealed to those citizens who are over the age of 60 and/or have chronic illnesses, to pay special attention to the three very simple rules of washing hands, physical distancing and wearing a mask. He added that all those who are not in the high-risk category, can infect those who are. He urged all those who are at risk to refrain from coming together in their courtyards, playing card games, to think of their health and added that the statistics are very clear – the healthcare system is not always able to save their lives. He asked them to minimize their contacts to only essential ones.
• Torosyan said these measures must become a part of our daily lives – just as we don’t leave our homes without our shoes, we must not leave without face masks.

Questions:

News.am, Armine Gevorgyan: What are the Government’s main mistakes in the fight against coronavirus? Will responsible officials be held accountable?

Nikol Pashinyan: The issue of mistakes is one of the most widely circulated topics but I will elaborate on the logic behind the Government decisions. When Armenia lifted the national lockdown, we reported over 100 cases daily. But it is important to remember about the incubation period (varies between seven to fourteen days), which means that the number of people who were infected during the lockdown were reflected in the numbers of the following two weeks. We lifted the lockdown in circumstances when 72,000 jobs were lost in April. The Health Minister stressed that it is important to minimize the number of confirmed cases and only then reopen the economy, which is justifiable from the healthcare perspective. But the Government was challenged to maintain a balance between healthcare and economic concerns and not prioritize one over the other.
Our primary concern is to ensure that all those citizens who need treatment receive it and the initial lockdown helped the Government to expand its capacity and allocate the required number of beds for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. At the end of April, the Government was also challenged to ensure compliance with the restrictions of the lockdown because people gradually got used to coronavirus, the weather started to get warmer and ultimately people resumed their interactions with their neighbors. And our statistics came to confirm that smaller neighbourhoods is where the virus is rapidly spreading.
All those who have already started assessing the effectiveness of the Government’s COVID-19 response are in a hurry. We are dealing with an global problem and we cannot have individual solutions. Also, it is very likely that countries around the world will eventually end up in similar situations.

Haykakan Jamanak, Syuzanna Poghosyan: In one week, the State of Emergency will expire. It is obvious from the daily numbers that the causes of the spread of the virus have not been eliminated based upon which a SOE was declared on March 16 and extended for a third time on June 13. How do you assess the effectiveness of citizens’ compliance with the anti-epidemic rules? What did the newly created Task Force find out about the sources of disinformation spread about coronavirus? Will the SOE be extended for the fourth time?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan: We understand that we can’t keep extending the State of Emergency but if everything continues as it has, then we will be obliged to extend it yet again. It is an issue for everyone but we cannot ignore the conditions of the pandemic. We will try, as much as possible, to find a balanced approach, but the facts are pointing to yet another extension of the State of Emergency. The biggest issue is uncertainty; today, the situation is relatively stable, but we have no guarantees that tomorrow, everything will not turn on its head. Every day at midnight we nervously wait to see how many new cases have been confirmed. Sadly, there are no guarantees that we might wake up one day and have 800-900 new cases. The only guarantee is our personal behavior and the belief that our behavior can impact the wellbeing of everyone. Even if we were to impose a total lockdown today, there is no way we can control or monitor what takes place in residential buildings, in courtyards. Even with the strictest fines, everything comes down to personal behavior.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs announced that all the elderly residents of the Nork Old Age Home who were reported to be infected with COVID-19 on May 16, have recovered and returned back to their normal life. The Ministry also said that considering the current situation, all the institutions working under its supervision, will continue minimizing contact with the outer world.

The Ministry of Health reported 330 new cases of COVID-19 and 162 recoveries, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 28,936 of which 11,984 are active cases and 16,302 have already recovered. Seven COVID-19 patients (the youngest aged 64 and the oldest 87), who all had pre-existing health conditions, died bringing the total number of deaths to 491. One other patient with COVID-19 also died, but the virus was not the cause of death; 159 such cases have been reported. To date, 123,815 tests have been conducted, of which 1,133 were in the last 24 hours.

The Ministry of Health reported 580 new cases of COVID-19 and 451 recoveries, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 27,900 of which 11,331 are active cases and 15,935 have already recovered. Eight COVID-19 patients (the youngest aged 59 and the oldest 86), who all had pre-existing health conditions, died bringing the total number of deaths to 477. One other patient with COVID-19 also died, but the virus was not the cause of death; 157 such cases have been reported. To date, 120,245 tests have been conducted, of which 2,043 were in the last 24 hours.