Armenia

On 11 March, Armenia’s Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan warned that the hospitals could run out of beds for Covid-19 patients if the renewed increase in coronavirus cases in the country continues unabated. 

Avanesyan issued the warning after health authorities registered the largest single-day number of cases in more than two months. The Armenian Ministry of Health reported in the morning of 11 March that 748 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past day, sharply up from an average of 183 cases a day recorded in February. The daily number of officially confirmed infections averaged 407 in the first ten days of March.

“As we predicted last week, we have a major increase in the disease,” Avanesyan told a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan. “Right now, there are 6,772 active cases and 901 of these people are hospitalised.” She also said that the nine Armenian hospitals treating COVID-19 patients currently have about 100 vacant beds and the authorities are setting up more such beds to cope with the growing number of serious cases. “But I want to warn that the number of beds is not unlimited, and everything must be done to make sure that the number of patients does not exceed our [hospital] capacity and that we again don’t have patients who cannot be hospitalised and have to stay at home,” she added.

The country’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also expressed concern at the worsening epidemiological situation. He urged citizens to comply with safety rules set by his government following the onset of the pandemic last year. However, he did not say whether the authorities are planning to resume a strict enforcement of those rules, which include mandatory mask-wearing in all public areas.

However, on the other spectrum of affairs, Armenia’s Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan told reporters that a set of measures implemented last year by the government to back travel and related companies may produce results starting from April this year. According to Kerobyan, there are all the signs that the catering sector, which is an important component of the tourism industry, is recovering. “I can share the good news - the number of hotel bookings for April has increased significantly, and we hope that the impact of the coronavirus will not harm this trend. We hope that from April there will be a significant improvement in the tourism sector,” he underscored. 

In the past 24 hours, Armenia reported 818 cases of the virus and 4 deaths, bringing the total tally to 177,104 cases and 3,243.

Azerbaijan

Meanwhile in Azerbaijan, the number of schools that are switching to remote learning is growing. According to the latest statistics, the number of classes which moved to distance education from 22 February  to 10 March in the country was 302 (0.34% of total classes), while the number of schools which switched to distance education is currently 13 (0.29% of total schools). 

Additionally, it was reported that on 11 March, Azerbaijan’s Prime Minister Ali Asadov signed agreements on the import of 300,000 doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine and 432,000 doses of the AztraZeneca vaccine. The vaccines are scheduled to arrive in the country within 180 days. Unless additional doses are purchased, Azerbaijan is slated to buy a total of 4,732,000 dosages in total in 2021— enough for a little over 20% of the country’s population. 

The member of  Azerbaijan’s parliamentary Health Committee Soltan Mammadov emphasised that bringing vaccines to the country became difficult due to the activities of powerful states in the vaccine market. “As you know, currently, we are witnessing a very serious fight in the world regarding vaccines. Steps taken by big and more powerful states cause an emergence of a vaccine shortage. Some interests create factors that impede the fair distribution of the vaccine,” he stated.

In the past 24 hours, Azerbaijan reported 576 cases of the virus and 6 deaths, bringing the total tally to 238,959 cases and 3,268 deaths.

Georgia

Speaking on the topic of vaccine distribution, Georgia’s Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze stated that 43,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine would enter Georgia on 13 March. She stressed medical personnel and risk groups will be vaccinated first. The minister also said that Georgia is likely to receive 29,250 doses of Pfizer vaccine by the end of March. 

Tikaradze further elaborated that Georgia was negotiating with Israel, China and other partner states to receive additional doses of Chinese, AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines in the coming months. She stated that Georgia has already ordered 100,000 doses of a Chinese vaccine-Sinovac, which is likely to receive the approval of the World Health Organisations in the near future.  

In the past 24 hours, Georgia reported 332 new cases of the virus and 12 deaths, bringing the total tally to 274,337 cases and 3,634 deaths.