13:30, 2 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. The monitoring conducted in 90 pharmacies and pharmacy networks across Armenia revealed that the large networks didn’t increase the prices of face masks due to the novel coronavirus, but there is a deficit of these items, Chairman of the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition Gegham Gevorgyan told reporters today.

“After conducting a monitoring in pharmacies on March 1 we have found out that masks were exported from Armenia by non-major sellers. We have also recorded that no major importer has increased the prices of masks. At the moment there are some networks which do not have masks, but their prices have not increased”, he said.

He denied the reports according to which an artificial deficit of masks is created or there is an ungrounded increase in prices of masks. “There is an increase in prices of masks in small pharmacies, for instance up to 200 or 300 drams. At the moment we are holding negotiations with our foreign partners so that the Armenian importers can bring new batch of masks from abroad. The foreign partners inform that the deficit of masks exists in the whole world”, Gegham Gevorgyan said.

Gevorgyan also informed that the healthcare ministry has stored masks, there is no shortage of them in the state reserve.

First case of novel coronavirus has been confirmed in Armenia on March 1. The patient arrived in Armenia from Iran.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan