YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian community of the Netherlands, which is quite active and law-abiding, follows all the instructions of the Health ministry to avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and tries to understand what developments are expecting, Head of a major tourism agency operating in the Netherlands Erik Aghabekyan told Armenpress.

“In Netherlands we have major problems in the healthcare system, as there is a little panic connected with the number of intensive care units. And the restrictions will be in force until April 28, therefore all citizens must follow all the rules, and Armenians here are not an exception. At the moment we cannot talk about a major progress because the changes to the good are not so great. We all hope that there soon will be a positive progress and all opportunities, which existed before the spread of the novel coronavirus, will open”, he said, adding that he doesn’t have any information whether there are infected people among Dutch-Armenians.

He said the Armenian community members are under quarantine as much as possible. He personally didn’t visit his father for 3, 4 weeks, in order not to put him at risk. “There are some people, especially among the youth, who look at the issue not so seriously, but, they are also cautious. The local Armenians are very informed”, he said, urging Armenians living in Armenia to seriously accept this issue and refrain from making mistakes.

As for the activities of the Armenian Embassy in the Netherlands, Aghabekyan said the Embassy is actively working, searching for medicine, ventilators to send them to Armenia, as well as is also supporting Armenians who want to return to Armenia.

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global pandemic and named the virus COVID-19. Cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in more than 200 countries.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan