Gayaneh Sahakyan, Manager of the Armenian Ministry of health’s National Immunization Programme, today said that 53,000 people in the country have received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Sahakyan described the vaccination rate as “very bad” and that herd immunity will take an exceptionally long time if the rate doesn’t improve.

She said that 1,500 doses are given daily but that the number has dropped of late.

Sahakyan estimated 600 new coronavirus cases next week, 180 of which will be hospitalized.

The ministry official said that as the reproduction rate slowly grows, the number of coronavirus cases is expected to increase in the coming days.