On 1 July, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the novel coronavirus is continuing to spread in the country despite his government’s efforts to get people to follow its anti-epidemic rules. 

He reported that a nearly 30% year-on-year surge in the total number of deaths were registered in the country in June. “Of course, changes in these mortality statistics are not fully connected with the coronavirus, but the coronavirus situation definitely has a significant impact on them,” he said. “Unfortunately, we are still not succeeding in achieving our main strategic goal in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic. Our main strategic goal is to learn to live with the coronavirus,” he added.

Armenia’s Health Minister Arsen Torosyan stated that currently some 650 people with Covid-19 were in serious and extremely serious condition and 44 of them are connected to mechanical ventilation devices. He also said that all the intensive care units in hospitals are almost at capacity because of Covid-19 patients. Torosyan also spoke about the government’s negotiations for acquiring vaccines against the virus, which are still under development. He has already spoken with the commercial director of the US-based Moderna Company, the apparent frontrunner in the Covid-19 vaccine race, which is affiliated with an Armenian-born entrepreneur Nubar Afeyan. In addition, the Armenian government is also negotiating with WHO and UNICEF in order to make global procurement of the vaccine possible to ensure equal distribution. According to Torosyan, the danger is that many rich countries may purchase large amounts of vaccines before they are produced and as a result, they will become available to other countries very late.

Armenia’s Central Bank stated that the country’s economy would contract by 4% in 2020 due to the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but is expected to recover and grow 5.5% next year. According to the information, the worst-affected sectors of the economy were services, construction and international tourism. It was also highlighted in the report that the amount of private remittances would decline by 22-25% this year due to the drop in oil prices in Russia and Moscow’s ban on migrant workers during the pandemic. However, it said that would not have a significant impact on Armenia’s GDP.

Meanwhile Armenia received further international aid, as  the EU and the WHO donated 10,000 test kits to the country. In a joint statement, they said that the donation “will allow wider testing for COVID-19 across the country free of charge.”

The French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his readiness to lend Armenia up to 80 million euros ($90 million) in emergency funding through the French Development Agency in order to tackle the coronavirus crisis and its severe economic fallout.

Armenia also received a $3.7 million grant from Japan to buy sophisticated medical equipment that could be used in its fight against the coronavirus. The Armenian Finance Ministry said the money will be spent on the purchase of Japanese-made magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines and other medical equipment. It said some of that equipment will be installed in four ambulance vehicles catering to residents of the country’s remote communities.

The current tally of infected persons in Armenia stands at 26 658 with 459 reported deaths.