The Armenian authorities must unhesitatingly take specific action now to combat the further spread of the coronavirus disease, an epidemiologist said today, expressing regret that the right moment for containing the virus was omitted.

In an interview with Tert.am, Ruben Hayrapetyan blamed especially healthcare officials for a failure to conduct a proper epidemiological analysis to identify the social connections contributing to the infection spread. “My observations reveal that the transmission occurs mainly inside families and in work environments or in close contacts among friends or neighbors not wearing masks,” he noted.

The specialist said he believes that the inability to influence the transmission channels is the main problem accounting for the increasing rate of the disease. “The situation has spiraled out of control. The health sector is not functioning adequately, refusing, for instance, to hospitalize a citizen showing all the symptoms of coronavirus whenever the test comes back negative,” he said, not ruling out the possibility of errors.

Hovhannisyan stressed the importance of conducting serious research to evaluate the real situation in the country. “We could have the clear picture then to understand to what extent the restrictions or the use of masks is effective and expedient,” he said. 

The National Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 723 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday morning, bringing the country total to 16,004. In a live Facebook broadcast earlier, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed his concern over the record daily rise in the registered cases, highlighting the importance of social responsibility on the part of each and every citizen.

H/T Tert