The Commission for Coordination of Activities to Prevent the Spread of Coronavirus in the Republic of Armenia met today in the Office of Government, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Addressing the meeting, the Premier noted that the upward trend in the spread of the novel coronavirus is worrying.

“I think it is time we thought about making some adjustments to our efforts against the coronavirus. Our calculations show that if we do not change anything in this process, by the end of May we will have about 10 thousand patients, that is, people having tested positive, and this number may reach 20 thousand by mid-June. This means that we should take not so much new measures, but review the measures already taken, especially in terms of quality and scope,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

According to the Prime Minister, the tactics and strategy of the Commandant’s Office were as follows: to learn to live a normal life, or more or less normal, or as normal as possible in the presence of the coronavirus.

“But, of course, when we say this, we mean the ability to manage the situation in such a way that after easing the restrictions there is no need to return to the previous restrictions. And today we must state that, unfortunately, we are not sure that we can maintain this tactics if the current trend continues. However, our main task is to learn to coexist with the coronavirus and take strict control of the spread of COVID-19,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

According to the Prime Minister, the situation with coronavirus in the Republic of Armenia is often compared with a number of other countries, and parallels are drawn. “Of course, this is an understandable comparison, but I want to say that the whole picture must be considered when comparing. Originally, our tactic was to conduct such activities so that they are as balanced as possible from the point of view of managing the economic crisis, from the point of view of managing the health crisis and from the point of view of managing the social crisis. And in that regard, I believe it is important to note that during the coronavirus crisis, we managed to maintain a minimum inflation threshold, our financial market was not shocked.

I say this to state that, yes, there are countries where the situation is much better in terms of the digital indicators of the epidemic, but, on the other hand, there is inflation that is several times higher than the planned threshold, fluctuations occur in the financial and economic market. In general, it is a matter of evaluating and choosing which solution to which problem is a priority.

I think that we should carry on with our tactics; we should not underestimate the economic problems, social and economic problems as opposed to health problems. But, on the other hand, the unresolved and exacerbated health problems can exacerbate economic problems and make their solution more difficult,” the Premier said.

The Prime Minister noted that during the meeting the current situation will be discussed, the meeting participants will try to understand what specific adjustments should be made to the ongoing efforts.

“This is not so much about substantive adjustments, because, in fact, from the point of view of content, all countries apply the same measures, although I do not rule out the possibility that we can discuss such a question. Rather, it means that we need to better understand how to make the fight against the coronavirus more effective, we are talking about a centralized and decentralized struggle, when as many forces and citizens as possible are involved in the fight against the epidemic at the level of individual responsibility,” Nikol Pashinyan noted.

The meeting went on to review infection statistics, general trends, infected people’s health status and the measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Armenia. It was noted that the increased number of tests made it possible to identify infection cases as early as possible, and treat patients without any deteriorations in their health status.

Further steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection, in particular, issues of managing the epidemiological situation, control mechanisms, etc. were discussed during the meeting.

Prime Minister Pashinyan stressed the need for exercising strict control over the prescribed rules and gave appropriate instructions.