The Ministry of Health of Armenia has a methodology that provides the ministry with the opportunity to check not only the number of people with the coronavirus who are officially included in the statistics, but also the number of people who were not included in the statistics. This is what Minister of Health of Armenia Anahit Avanesyan said during today’s discussion on the draft state budget for 2022, responding to the question from deputy of the opposition “Armenia” faction of the National Assembly Artur Khachatryan, who expressed doubt about the figures indicated in the official statistics.

According to the minister, the real number of infected people may be 2-3 times greater than the figures stated in the official statistics. “Many countries apply this technique, and in some of those countries, the real number of infected people is 3-4 times greater than the figures stated in the official statistics. A relevant methodology is applied and necessary calculations are done on the basis of this. The fact is that many people simply have no symptoms. This is why they don’t get tested for COVID-19, and this creates certain difficulties for counting the real number of infected people and identifying them,” Avanesyan added.