Armenia enters into yet another coronavirus wave

JAMnews

Yerevan

Another wave of coronavirus has begun in Armenia and doctors are sounding the alarm, with hospitals again coming under heavy pressure.

On March 10, 748 tests out of 4,285 were positive.

Epidemiologists warn that the epidemic situation in Armenia is tense and if nothing is done, then in a week five times more new cases of infection per day can be expected.

Formally, the “mask regime” is still preserved in the republic, but in reality it is not observed by everyone.

As of March 10, 176,286 cases of coronavirus infection had been registered in Armenia. Over the past 24 hours, two patients have died for a total of 3,239 people. 165,441 people have recovered. The total number of tests since the beginning of the pandemic is 761,945.

Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan believes that the number of cases of infection will not increase every day if the Covid-19 regulations are observed.

She reiterated the need to follow the preventive measures proposed by the World Health Organization, including hand disinfection, maintaining social distance and wearing masks:

“We must do everything so that the number of patients does not increase, and because of this, seriously ill patients are not forced to stay at home,” the minister said.

According to her, those infected with the coronavirus are now receiving treatment in nine hospitals, where there are only about a hundred free beds.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also spoke about the need to follow the new rules of life with the virus, “so that there is no need to introduce new restrictions.”

Doctors consider the situation “very tense”

Comparing the test results of the last two weeks with the data of the previous 14 days, an increase of more than 91% is noticeable.

Head of the Epidemiology Department of the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention Romella Abovyan said:

“Currently, the epidemic situation can be assessed as very tense. […] Moreover, the reproductive rate of infection in Armenia is already higher than 1, it is at the level of 1.3. This means that if no action is taken over the next 7 days, we do not increase our vigilance regarding compliance with the safety rules, we may have 3,700 more new cases. ”

According to the infectious disease specialist, a sharp increase in the incidence is now also observed in children and adolescents:

1.17 times among 3 – 5 year olds,
1.42 times among 6 – 17 year olds,
3.3 times among 6 – 8 year olds.

6,772 patients are now on active treatment, 901 of them in hospitals.

Only doctors are vaccinated

Mass vaccination has not yet begun in Armenia. So far, only doctors who work in clinics dealing with the treatment of those infected with coronavirus are being vaccinated.

At the beginning of the year, Russia donated 2,000 doses of Sputnik V to the Armenian Ministry of Health to vaccinate 1,000 people – the vaccine is administered twice. Armenian infectious disease specialists assure that so far no complications or any side effects have been observed after vaccination.

By order of the Minister of Health, risk groups have been approved, which will be vaccinated in the first place. In particular, these are residents of nursing homes and their employees, those who are 65 and over, as well as chronic patients aged 16 to 64.