Armenia has run out of hospital beds, and 200 citizens with coronavirus are waiting to be hospitalized, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a daily briefing today.

“The heath system is so overloaded that we don’t manage to accept patients that need hospitalization,” Pashinya said.

He added that a patient has died due to belated medical assistance. The family provided information about the patient’s condition too late, and the health system failed to respond properly.

The Prime Minister said the Commandant’s Office considers the option of imposing a total lockdown, but added that the measure would hardly lead to a desirable result.

“It’s not a desirable decision – not only because the economic results will be too heavy, but also because we are not confident the quarantine will be observed properly,” he said.

“The monitoring of the past days shows that after the lockdown is lifted, we’ll return to 500-600 cases a day,” Pashinyan stated.

According to the Prime Minister, “we have reached a critical stage and are passing through hell.” He believes that only a universal anti-epidemic movement in the Republic of Armenia, can be a solution, at least a mid-term one.

He underlined that WHO has reviewed its recommendations related to wearing of masks “and the advice fully corresponds to the decisions we have made.”

“We have crossed the line, beyond which there is the hell,” the Prime Minister said, adding that the government is taking two steps in this situation.

First, he said, the authorities are frankly and sincerely communicating with the public and resenting precise information.

 Second, the PM added, all measures are being taken to increase the hospital capacities.

Pashinyan stated that a total of 2,500 beds have been reserved for coronavirus patients in nine medical institutions since the beginning of the crisis. He added that new intensive care units are being built and a number of beds are being launched at medical centers and will be available in 1.5 months.