YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. 805,550 people, or 35,7% of the adult population of Armenia, are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Minister of Healthcare Anahit Avanesyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned that the infection rates show that a new wave is coming.

“We are back to an alarm state,” he said. “All the criticism we’ve been getting over the restrictions are unfounded,” Pashinyan said, referring to an upcoming COVID-19 health pass which will require unvaccinated people to produce a recent negative test result upon entering restaurants and other venues. “We are the first in the world to reject the lockdown policy. Our policy is the following: to manage it so that we don’t have to go back to lockdown. I’d like to record that inspection agencies will strictly monitor these new restrictions,” he said.