Avanesyan presented the situation with ARVI in Armenia

YEREVAN, February 20. /ARKA/. Since the end of December, there has been an increase in cases of acute respiratory viral infections, and daily monitoring is being carried out. This was stated by Armenian Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan during a briefing on Thursday.

"The situation is tense, but I cannot say that there are indications at the moment for additional restrictive measures. The trend of requests to hospitals and clinics continues. We are working to increase the hospital capacity. Currently, there are no grounds to switch to online classes or close schools and kindergartens," Avanesyan said.

According to her, if the results of the monitoring raise concerns, such measures will be considered. However, a decision-making mechanism is in place for each specific school.

"About 70% of those who fell ill and sought medical care are under 18 years old," Avanesyan added.

Earlier, the National Center for Disease Prevention of the Ministry of Health of Armenia reported to Novosti-Armenia that high levels of acute respiratory infections continued to be observed from February 10 to 16, 2025. During this period, 10,739 people sought treatment for acute respiratory infections in outpatient clinics, which is 1.2 times higher than the same period last year, with no significant changes compared to the previous week. 983 patients with pneumonia sought treatment at outpatient clinics, which is 1.1 times fewer than the previous week but shows a 2.9-fold increase compared to the same period in 2024. 66.8% of all cases were among patients aged 0-18 years.