ArmInfo. The epidemiological situation in Armenia continues to deteriorate. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan announced this during a live broadcast on Facebook.
Over the past day, 697 new cases of coronavirus were detected in Armenia, which is a abysmal record. In addition, COVID-19 claimed the lives of another 6 people, and another 9 virus carriers died from other diseases. Based on the scale of the disease, the health care system of Armenia is under serious pressure, and patients who need inpatient treatment do not have time to hospitalize on time. Pashinyan noted that the danger of the coronavirus is that it can be asymptomatic, on the basis of which the number of such cases in Armenia can reach 20 thousand. The Prime Minister recalled that he and his family members also have no COVID-19 symptoms, and the disease was detected by chance, through a preventive test in anticipation of his participation in a mass event. According to examination, the prime minister, his wife and daughter Mariam do not have pneumonia (other family members will be examined later), but complications may also develop in 10% of asymptomatic cases.
The fact that 75% of patients with coronavirus have no symptoms prevents many people, as Pashinyan noted, from properly assessing the severity of the situation. Meanwhile, asymptomatic patients can use public transport, visit places of trade and catering facilities, posing a potential threat to others. With this in mind, and to stabilize the situation, the nationwide anti-epidemiological movement will be launched in Armenia. This implies that every citizen complies with COVID-19 safety rules; monitoring the implementation of these measures by others; publication in social networks of photos and videos about the violations identified. The prime minister informed that a monitoring group has been created in the Police to analyze such signals in social networks, while emphasizing that all responsible officials will be punished in case of confirmation of violations. As an example, the head of the Cabinet recalled the situation with the Gloria sewing factory in Vanadzor, when just one photo of a bus full of employees of factory helped to establish the scale of non-compliance with security measures. Testing confirmed the coronavirus of dozens of employees, and the enterprise was finally closed for 72 hours. In addition, on the eve, after a series of publications of photographs about the queues at banking institutions, banks were able to resolve the situation through operational measures during the day.
Pashinyan recalled that from today, according to the decision of the Commandant's Office, wearing masks is mandatory. According to monitoring, the country has a tendency to reduce the price of masks, and there is hope that it will continue in the future. Calling on citizens to take responsibility in connection with the current situation, the prime minister also informed that over 100 billion drams were allocated in the framework of anti-crisis government programs, of which 4.9 billion were allocated as financial assistance to children under the 9th program, and another 8.4 billion AMD covered 124 thousand beneficiaries in the framework of the 8th program.