21:03, 3 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. Posh suites and a luxury hotel – these are the conditions that the Armenian authorities have provided for the 32 quarantined direct contacts of the first novel coronavirus patient. The direct contacts are quarantined at the Tsakhkadzor resort town’s previously defunct Golden Palace five-star hotel.

PM Nikol Pashinyan had earlier said that those quarantined must be treated “like we would like our families to be treated” in such cases, and noted that the quarantined citizens will receive dignified conditions.

And this move has already received global attention.

“Being quarantined on suspicion of carrying a deadly contagious disease is quite an ordeal, but at least Armenia is making up for the hassle by placing coronavirus patients in a 5-star hotel”, writes RT.

“In some countries, repatriated coronavirus patients are met with stones and threats, but in Armenia, they have so far received drastically different treatment”, the news agency wrote, posting the video shared by PM Nikol Pashinyan showing hazmat personnel handing out meals to the people in the luxury hotel suits.

The Turkish NTV has also touched upon Armenia’s quarantine conditions, emphasizing that the Armenian premier has ordered a five-star quarantine condition for the persons.

Armenia reported its first novel coronavirus case on March 1. The virus was confirmed in an Armenian man who traveled to Iran. He was hospitalized in Yerevan, while his direct contacts were taken to the Tsakhkadzor resort town’s previously defunct Golden Palace hotel. The hotel was quickly re-launched by healthcare authorities and the quarantined people have all necessary conditions, including food service, internet etc.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan