The Minister of Health, Arsen Torosyan, presented updated information about the number of coronavirus cases during a recent session of government. The minister said that there are 115 cases (Translator’s note: At the time this article was published, the number had reached 122). One individual has recovered. “Everyone is doing well. There are only five people who have a fever of over 38 degrees (100.4 degrees F). We do not have any cases with a fever above 39, and there are 34 individuals whose temperatures are above 37.”
According to the minister, 13 of the people who have the coronavirus are above 60, but none of them have a fever and none of their lives are in danger. “I can say that no one is in danger. We are continuing to hospitalize them using the same strategy. When we have a new confirmed case, we keep the individual under doctors’ supervision, and we isolate the circle of people they came into contact with in special places. We also have asked people to self-quarantine.”
The Prime Minister asked about what is taking place across the world. Torosyan said that they were able to stop the spread of the virus in China, which is where the coronavirus originated. “No new cases were confirmed in China yesterday. However, people are still continuing to get infected, especially in Europe. There are already around 10,000 cases in Western Europe. There are over 30,000 cases in France, Germany, and Italy. There have been near 3,000 deaths, which is very unfortunate. But we can say that the majority of those who died were older than 70, 80, and 90. And we always mention this: the elderly and those with chronic illnesses are the most vulnerable groups.”
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Torosyan noted that calls to limit movement and socialization are particularly aimed towards those groups. “Even if young people will become infected and will recover without any serious impact on their health, they need to care for our older generations. They need to avoid contact with any elderly people while they are sick. International healthcare policies are all emphasizing this. If the epidemic spreads across the world, an emphasis needs to be placed on defending and providing adequate healthcare to the elderly and those with chronic illnesses, even if it returns to China since that risk does exist. No country has said that they were able to completely get rid of the virus or that they are 100 percent safe from getting the virus again. I believe that we need to work in that direction and we have already begun to initiate activities in that direction.”
Lusine Budaghyan
