Armenia’s confirmed coronavirus cases hit 84

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Armenia has increased to 84, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a Facebook live on Wednesday.

Pashinyan said that 700 people are currently quarantined, while 799 others have been told to self-isolate.

According to him, 81 percent of the confirmed cases are linked to the Etchmiadzin incident and the case at a Yerevan manufacturing company. The number of the new cases related to the Etchmiadzin incident has dropped, the PM said, adding 99 percent of the newly identified coronavirus infections in Armenia are linked to the case at the manufacturing company.

The other cases are local, Pashinyan said, adding, for example, the two coronavirus patients of the town of Charentsavan, who returned from France, had no contacts.

Two of the coronavirus patients have pneumonia, but both of them are feeling well. 26 of the 84 patients have a temperature above 37C, 6 have a temperature of 38C and above, while 39 have no fever. 17 coronavirus patients in Armenia have no symptoms at all, Pashinyan said.

The PM said while visiting pharmacies in Yerevan on Tuesday he observed that they were short of hand sanitizers as a result of panic buying. “Armenia produces hand sanitizers, there is no shortage of them,” he added.

Armenia declared a 30-day state of emergency in the country on Monday in an effort to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.