Armenian health minister on comparison of Georgia’s and Armenia’s coronavirus cases

Georgia conducted 9,000 tests per 1 million inhabitants, while Armenia conducted 12,650 tests. This is what Minister of Health of Armenia Arsen Torosyan told Azatutyun TV today, touching upon the question whether the comparison between Georgia and Armenia attests to the fact that the Georgian authorities combated the spread of the coronavirus more effectively than the Armenian authorities.

The minister said what is also important are the groups for testing. “I welcome my counterparts’ effective steps to combat this virus, and I hope they manage to maintain low figures. I was talking to the Ambassador of China, and China is also concerned that there might be a double outbreak. The current figures can’t guarantee anything from the perspective of the future, if they want to return to the normal, or the new normal.”

When asked if he agrees with the criticism that the law-enforcement authorities haven’t implemented control properly over the past months and if the issue has been raised during discussions in government, the minister said the following: “There is always room for improvement for all public administration bodies, including the Ministry of Health. If we’re talking about omissions, I’ll go ahead and say that it’s not like the healthcare system was 100% effective and other systems were less effective.”