By Varak Ghazarian

24,000 doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine arrived in Armenia on Monday, Armenia’s Health Ministry announced. The arrival of the vaccines was facilitated through COVAX, the global initiative that aims to accelerate the development and access to coronavirus vaccine for all countries in the world. 

According to the Ministry of Health, this first batch of vaccines will be administered to at-risk groups, consisting of residents of home care facilities, social workers, health workers, people 65 and older, and those with chronic illnesses. 

Earlier this month, Gayane Sahakyan, Deputy Director-General of the National Center of Disease Control and Prevention, had said that Russia’s Sputnik V will become the first vaccine to be administered in Armenia. But that agreement has not yet been finalized.

“At the moment, we are in the process of signing an agreement with Russia. We are purchasing 15,000 doses,” Sahakyan said.

Following a downturn in positive cases months after the Karabakh War, Armenia is now seeing a new rise is Covid cases. On Monday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a meeting with the commission that is tasked with the prevention of the spread of the virus. He called for tighter restrictions on indoor gatherings, stricter mask mandates, and increased hospital capacity. 

During the meeting, Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan noted that in comparison with the last seven days, the positive case numbers in Armenia are worrying. She stated that the coronavirus situation in Armenia remains tense and will worsen if the restrictions are not tightened.

As of March 29, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Armenia has reached 190,741, with 172,096 recoveries and 3,476 deaths. According to Armenia’s National Center for Disease Control, the current number of hospitalizations is 14,287, and Armenia has so far conducted a total of 842,817 COVID-19 tests.