After today’s regular meeting of the Commandant’s Office, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a news briefing with Minister of Healthcare Arsen Torosyan and Director General of the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the Ministry of Healthcare Artavazd Vanyan.

The Premier noted that a significant part of the society continues not to follow the safety rules and not to wear masks. “The time has come to admit that we have not been able to persuade or compel our compatriots to abide by the most effective means so far, namely to wear masks. In fact, it should be noted that in Armenia, despite the decisions made by the fence, the propaganda used, the proceedings, the transparency of the government’s activities, people do not wear masks en masse. This is the number one reason for the spread of the coronavirus epidemic in Armenia,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

The Prime Minister presented a study published in the scientific journal of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, according to which wearing masks in combination with social distancing and other rules is the most probable possibility to stop the COVID-19 epidemic.

“The experience of dozens of hardest-hit countries, including Spain, Italy and the United States, has shown that wearing masks has a decisive effect. I want to say that this was published today, that is, the belief in masks exists at this stage. Previously, there was no such belief in the effectiveness of masks. Therefore, there have been inaccuracies in the statements in various places,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

According to the same article, masks are necessary for healthy people as this allows them not to inhale the atmospheric particles exhaled by others, which can stay in the air for tens of minutes. In this case, the mask is an effective remedy. Nikol Pashinyan quoted another part of the article, according to which the rules of staying at home and keeping a social distance in New York did not yield so many results. The results were most visible after making the masks mandatory.

The Prime Minister once again urged citizens to strictly observe the safety rules: wear a mask, keep a social distance and frequently wash one’s hands.