YEREVAN, MARCH 23, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has chaired a meeting of the coronavirus task force, the PM's Office said. 

Pashinyan said that all studies show that the situation may last longer than initially forecast. “In this regard we must develop certain ideas on how we are going to organize life in our republic. The general logic and strategy must be the following, that in conditions of the coronavirus restrictions we must find and develop so-called free and safe areas, where we can organize our life in relative safe conditions, certainly also by following the developments.

One thing is certain, huge uncertainties exist in the world around the coronavirus, as of today there is not a single country which can note that it has taken the situation clearly under control and is managing it. We are receiving the most unexpected information. For example, yesterday I read that one of the most developed countries of the world, I don’t want to mention the name, officially admitted that they have shortage of test kits, that they are unable to test the required number of people and so on. Therefore, we are working in such conditions and we must carry on with the same logic,” Pashinyan said.

The PM said that the government must have two directions of activities, first being the state of emergency’s headquarters’ measures,which regulates tactical issues, and the second being the development of anti-crisis and strategic steps in order to prevent facing collapses in this situation.

The task force executives then briefed the PM on the ongoing measures and said that they are currently working on importing more test kits and face masks.

Deputy PM Tigran Avinyan, the Superintendent overseeing the state of emergency measures, reported that the situation is under control and that the entire efforts are currently focused on preventive measures.

Healthcare Minister Arsen Torosyan reported that there are no critical cases among the active 192 COVID19 patients in Armenia.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan