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A research is being conducted to better understand the Omicron Covid-19 variant and the effectiveness of vaccines against it, Armenia’s Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan told a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

Despite the fears that vaccines may be less effective against the Omicron variant, they remain the best way to prevent serious illness and deaths, she stated.

The health minister reports that 40% of Armenian adults have received their first shots of a Covid vaccine, while 23.9% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

"Currently there are 12,465 active cases, of whom 1,068 are vaccinated,” Avanesyan said, adding out of 2,349 hospitalized patients only 87 are vaccinated.

In response to Nikol Pashinyan’s question about the discrepancies in data on Covid-19 deaths provided by the Statistical Committee and the ArMed national digital health system, Avanesyan said the research continues and the results will be announced as soon as it is completed.

Pashinyan said that the case will be forwarded to the Prosecutor's Office after the official investigation is over. “If there is a malicious intent, the guilty must be punished. If it's a technical problem, it needs to be eliminated,” he noted.