Armenian Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan, in a Facebook post today, said the country must redouble it efforts to reach a point where is no danger of the large-scale spread of the novel coronavirus in Armenia.

As of April 5, there were 822 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country.

Torosyan called on the citizens to follow the decisions of the State of Emergency Command, not to leave their homes unnecessarily, and to observe hygiene directives.

Regarding the growth of the cases in the last three days, Torosyan said that 4.6%, 6.8%, 1.3% growth was registered, respectively.

He said there are 1,400 beds available to treat Covid-19 patients.

"Most patients do not have a fever. 146 have pneumonia as of yesterday. 35 are in serious condition.  Most of them need oxygen, and eight are extremely ill,"   Torosyan said.

 There are now 1,500 citizens in isolation wards and more than 5000 citizens are self-isolating. More than 400 citizens have been released from quarantine

Referring to the use of masks, Torosyan said they are required for medical workers, infected people, and patients with acute respiratory infections. He added the masks are used so that the hands do not touch the mouth and nose after touching different surfaces and thus transmit the infection.

Regarding the shortage and high cost of masks, Torosyan said that the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have decided to recommend home-made masks and cloth masks that can be regularly disinfected and help people avoid touching their mouth or nose.

There will soon be guidelines on how to use these masks.