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Armenia’s Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan warned of a sharp increase in patients with COVID-19 who require hospitalization due to the delta variant, saying doctors are “on the verge of burnout”.

Armenia reported 764 new coronavirus cases and 19 deaths on Thursday. In total, 6,049 tests were performed in the past 24 hours.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Avanesyan said when Armenia recorded 764 new cases last year, the hospitalization rate was much lower than now. This means that in case of the same figures more hospital beds are occupied and the hospitals are running out of free beds faster, she said.

“Currently, 1860 out of 2044 available beds are occupied. The number of ICU beds is 319, of which 289 are occupied,” the minister said.

Avanesyan says that 97-98% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated or have not received their second vaccine shot yet.

Warning that the situation could worsen in autumn due to the expected increase in other diseases, the minister asked Armenians to “make the spread of the infection manageable” by getting vaccinated.

“Doctors are on the verge of mental exhaustion,” Avanesyan said.