Armenia to cancel mandatory wearing of masks in closed premises
YEREVAN, February 23. /ARKA/. Citing experts' estimates that the daily number of new coronavirus infections is dropping Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the government is very likely to cancel a mandate requiring that people wear masks indoors.
"Wearing masks even indoors will be a recommendation," he said.
Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan added that wearing face masks in some facilities, such as medical centers, will remain mandatory because of a higher risk of infection.
‘In general, our policy will be advisory in nature, for citizens to observe mask regime in crowded closed premises," she said.
She added that two sub-variants of the Omicron strain are mainly circulating in Armenia, which have completely superseded the delta variant.
In the meantime Armenian health officials have recorded 946 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, saying the total number of confirmed cases rose to 417,456 as of Wednesday morning.
According to the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 24 people have died from Covid-19 during the past 24 hours. The total tally of such deaths is now 8,378.
Some 1,545 patients have recovered. Overall, 4,759 people have tested for the infection in the last 24 hours, it said
In total, 2,875,218 coronavirus tests have been administered in the country of 3 million since March 1, 2020, when the first case was detected. Since then 395,700 patients have recovered, and another 11,708 patients are being treated currently at hospitals and their homes.
In Armenia, 6 types of Covid-19 vaccines are used now- CoronaVac and Sinopharm (China), AstraZeneca (Britain, Sweden), Sputnik V (Russia), Pfizer and Spikevax (Moderna, USA). Vaccinations are free for people over 18 years old, including foreigners.
On November 11, the government of Armenia extended the coronavirus quarantine until June 20, 2022.
The nationwide quarantine was first imposed on September 11, 2020 replacing the state of emergency that was declared on March 16 to stop the spread of coronavirus. -0-
