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Armenia’s former Ambassador to Poland and ex-Chief of Staff of the Constitutional Court Edgar Ghazaryan criticized the Armenian government for its handling of Covid-19 amid resurgence of new cases.

Armenia reported 1,155 new coronavirus cases and 20 more deaths on Wednesday, bringing the national tally to 267,363. 891 new infections and 22 deaths were recorded on Tuesday.

“Since October 1, an average of 946 new virus cases and 20 deaths have been recorded per day. These figures point to a sharp increase in the spread of the disease, leading to a spike in the daily death toll,” Ghazaryan wrote on Facebook.

“In these conditions, the government is taking almost no significant steps to even enforce the current restrictions, let alone to impose new restrictions.

“Incidentally, due to the coronavirus disease, a state of emergency was declared in Armenia on March 16, 2020, when a maximum of 17 cases and 0 deaths per day were registered. Obviously, the healthcare system will not be able to serve all patients requiring medical care if the case growth rate continues like this, thus it is necessary to take urgent measures to address the situation,” he said.

In particular, according to Ghazaryan, it is necessary to:

• Immediately suspend the stationary educational process in all educational institutions (kindergartens, schools, colleges, universities, etc.);
• Switch to remote work in the public administration for a while;
• Restrict all mass events;
• Urge private companies to switch to working from home if possible;
• Impose restrictions on entry to Armenia by tightening border controls, etc.

The ex-ambassador stressed all decisions must be made and implemented urgently.