Expert forecasts more Covid-19 cases next week

YEREVAN, June 22. /ARKA/. Gayane Sahakyan, deputy director of Armenia’s National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the number of new cases of cornavirus infection are expected to grow in the coming week.

"We have very little time. The (virus) reproduction rate is growing - 1.1. This means that in a very short time - about 2 weeks - we will have a significant increase in new cases," she said.

Sahakyan said that at the moment, the situation with coronavirus is relatively stable, but 600 new cases are expected in the next week. She noted that during this period about 180 people will be hospitalized, and 5 people will need intensive care.

According to her, as of June 21, only some 65,719 vaccinations against coronavirus were made in Armenia, which is about 2% of the population.

"This is a very bad indicator. If we go at this pace, the goal of forming herd immunity, taking into account the sick and vaccinated, removing restrictions and returning to normal life, will take a long time," she said. 

Sahakyan noted that now about 1.5 thousand people are getting vaccines a day, while in the past there were up to 2 thousand. She recalled that foreign citizens can also get vaccinated in Armenia, and that the number of requests for vaccination from foreigners has increased.

According to her, the large number of foreigners in mobile vaccination centers to some extent motivated the local population to get vaccinated. Sahakyan noted that Armenia may soon receive new consignments of AstraZeneca vaccine.

“We are also continuing negotiations with Russia to get fresh batches of vaccines, based on this, the range of people who will be eligible to vaccination with Sputnik V will be revised,” she said. -0-