YEREVAN. – The epidemic situation associated with the novel coronavirus is easing in Armenia, but the number of new cases detected daily remains high. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted about this at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the government.

"We have some confidence that the detection of cases has increased. In this regard, we have received the opportunity to change the tactics somewhat, and if in the past the flows were high, now the Ministry of Health will be more proactive, and will go to risky places, groups, factories—on its own initiative, and will make a diagnosis, and this will allow to overcome the epidemic in some way," he added.

The Prime Minister noted that there are currently 68 COVID-19 patients in critical condition, 300 patients in severe condition, and the peak of critical cases was 178. "The numbers have decreased, but our analysis shows that we have been able to record such a decline mainly thanks to the introduction of rules for the mandatory wearing of face masks; and our message is clear that anti-epidemic rules must be strictly adhered to," he said.

Minister of health Arsen Torosyan, in turn, noted that there is a steady decline in COVID-19 cases in Armenia, and noted that from now on if the coronavirus is detected in a person—whether in a factory, bank or supermarket—they will not wait for the symptoms to appear, but will test everyone. "We examined one of the mental health centers—350 people at once—in a few days, and detected 25 positive cases that did not have any complaints," he said.