Expert: Coronavirus entered Armenia in January, not February

On January 9 of this year, the Ministry of Health and the Inspection Body for Social Affairs, which was overseeing border checkpoints, allowed 18 Armenian citizens displaying clinical signs of an infectious disease to cross the border. This was stated by security expert Grigor Grigoryan during a meeting with journalists on July 3, as reported by news.am.

“These signs included high fever, vomiting, abdominal pain, and rash, which, as it later turned out, are all characteristic of this new coronavirus infection. By January 7, the WHO had already declared that there was an unknown infection. This implies that all countries that are members of the WHO are obliged to strengthen border controls. Furthermore, when in February it was declared that the coronavirus infection was a public health incident of special importance, it suggested that Armenia's healthcare system needed to be brought to a high level of preparedness to counter this unknown disease. Our responsible authorities displayed criminal negligence and tried to compare this disease to seasonal flu,” Grigoryan said.

He further noted that health officials had made various statements, either knowingly or unknowingly, aimed at dulling the public's sense of vigilance. Specifically, it was declared at the level of the Deputy Minister of Health that Armenia was in a low-risk zone for the penetration of the coronavirus. There was no serious justification, a bare declaration was made and presented as a fact. Authorities were stating that they were not worried about imported cases, but only about local transmission. The question is, if the country has not yet registered any coronavirus cases, how can imported cases not worry them?” Grigoryan stated.

He reminded that there was an outbreak of the infection in January, and 90 percent of the symptoms were characteristic of coronavirus symptoms. “This gives grounds to suggest that the coronavirus entered Armenia not in February, but in January. Our health officials were already deliberately spreading misinformation, trying to calm the public by saying that quarantine is ineffective. The advice of our independent epidemiologists was ignored, which led to a fairly serious mortality rate. This forced the leadership of the Ministry of Health of Armenia to seek foreign assistance,” he added.