YEREVAN. – We say a few conditions to avoid the [COVID-19] infection, but obviously, those conditions are not met; it will be hard this way. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the government of Armenia.

"If we fail not only to inform our citizens about certain rules of conduct and to ensure that these rules are followed, we will have problems," he said. “I saw that people were standing, talking in groups. If there were an infected person there, obviously, those 10-15 people would be infected.

We are now talking about coming out of the restrictions’ regime [in Armenia], not because it [the novel coronavirus] has been overcome [in the country], but it is apparent that we will have cases [of this disease] at least until March-April next year.

Therefore, we cannot live in a closed regime for a year. There is an easing [of the restrictions] in countries around the world, although the coronavirus is still present. We need to establish a new code of conduct so that we can live in parallel [with COVID-19] because it is no longer possible to continue [in a] closed [regime].”

The Armenian PM added that under the new policy, when asymptomatic and mildly-infected people are sent home, they will be able to serve about 1,500 serious cases, given how many of them will need ventilators.