14:18, 12 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 12, ARMENPRESS. Online reports about the situation in the town of Ethmiatsin (Vagharshapat) are highly exaggerated, Mayor Diana Gasparyan said, advising the general public to follow only official information. She presented details about the novel coronavirus patient who is a local of Ejmiatsin.

“We have one carrier who has participated in an engagement ceremony on Sunday. Direct contacts were clarified and the information was given to the healthcare ministry. The contacts are being quarantined for testing,” she said.

Direct contacts are being taken out of the city to the quarantine zone by ambulances and police.

The patient is hospitalized at the Nork Infectious Disease hospital in Yerevan. The patient is not in serious condition.

Speaking about public calls for shutting down local schools, she said the City Hall doesn’t have the authority to do so.

Gasparyan said kindergartens have been provided with disinfecting and sanitation gels. “I am personally strictly supervising it”, she said. “We don’t have a decision on shutting down kindergartens yet, but we do monitor the attendance levels”.

Mayor Gasparyan said she will postpone a scheduled campaigning rally for the constitutional referendum because of the coronavirus case.

The Mayor called on the general public not to panic and follow official news reports.

On March 11, three novel coronavirus cases were confirmed in Armenia, bringing the total number to 4. One of the three latest cases was diagnosed in a citizen of Etchmiatsin.

The first case was confirmed on March 1.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan