Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, at a government cabinet session today, said that he will not order a health lockdown despite the worsening coronavirus situation.

He did not rule out that the possibility of ordering an outdoor mask mandate.

Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan said that 1,088 people are in serious condition and 307 in extremely serious condition. 152 individuals are connected to artificial respirators.

She said that all of the 3,050 coronavirus beds remain occupied.

"The peculiarity of this strain is that it puts us in an increasingly difficult condition in terms of the severity of the disease, its infectious rate and the age of people it impacts. This strain is quite aggressive in pregnant women. There are 122 pregnant women who are hospitalized and 53 have pneumonia,” Avanesyan said.

Pashinyan said that six health workers have been arrested for issuing false vaccination papers.

Noting vaccination rates must increase, Pashinyan boasted that four out of his family’s six members have been vaccinated.  

"Recently, our 14-year-old daughter became infected with the coronavirus. We found out quite late, about a week later. None of the vaccinated family members became infected with the coronavirus,” Pashinyan said.

(Of the 15,818 people tested yesterday, 2,307 tested positive for the coronavirus. 38 died from Covid-19 overnight, raising the death toll to date to 6,189.)