YEREVAN. – Today we have the [coronavirus] test results for 6,000 teachers, which shows that the number of infected people is around 1 percent, which is a very good result for us. Armenia’s Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Arayik Harutyunyan stated this during a press conference on Wednesday

"This proves two things: that our teachers are very aware and follow the rules, they have a great social responsibility. Second, as a result of this, we do not have to face additional difficulties and try to replace them [the teachers]; this is very good. Once this first stage passes, we will later launch random [COVID-19] tests in schools to break those chains," the minister said.

Harutyunyan noted that the current coronavirus-related restrictions in Armenia’s schools are aimed at protecting the health of teachers and schoolchildren and preventing new outbreaks under these pandemic conditions. "Because we do not want to have new lockdowns and closure of schools. Our actions are aimed at preventing this from happening, and we will get rid of these rules, which are set under the conditions of the pandemic, as soon as possible," he added.

According to Harutyunyan, the coronavirus-related situation is calm in most of the schools in Armenia, and they have not had and have not recorded any violation of the respective rules.

The minister added, however, that the polyclinics also are obligated to follow these rules.