Ministry of Health Releases List of Laboratories Participating in the 'Travel without COVID-19' Program

As of February 1, the 'Travel without COVID-19' program has officially launched, allowing individuals traveling from Armenia to the Russian Federation to electronically submit the results of their coronavirus laboratory tests.

As of 5:00 PM, six paid-service laboratories have been included in the program: the laboratories of 'Tsito' Medical Center, 'Normed' Medical Center, 'Natali Pharm' LLC, 'Astghik' Medical Center, and the diagnostic laboratories 'BIOMED', 'PROM-TEST', and 'ECO-SENS'. Efforts are underway to rapidly expand the list of laboratories.

In addition, three more laboratories are in the evaluation phase to join the platform according to the procedures established by the government decree No. 2194, dated December 28, 2020, which simplifies the entry of individuals across the state borders of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia and recognizes the operational electronic platform for 'free movement'. The list of new laboratories joining the application will be updated, and information will be available through the 'Travel without COVID-19' program application and the Ministry of Health website.

Regarding the issue that arose this morning at 'Zvartnots' Airport, we inform you that a group of citizens underwent COVID-19 testing at laboratories that were not included in the program at that time, and therefore their test results were not considered valid. Meanwhile, on January 27, the Ministry of Health had disseminated information mentioning the names of the laboratories providing paid services and the rules for utilizing the program.

Considering that this program is new, we again remind our fellow citizens: according to these procedures, before traveling to the Russian Federation, it is necessary to download the 'Travel without COVID-19' electronic application.

A citizen must approach a laboratory conducting PCR tests (included in the program) with the passport they will use for travel and provide the required data. This information is then entered into the 'Free Movement' governmental electronic information platform by the laboratory.

The laboratory provides the citizen with a system-generated agreement that includes a two-dimensional protected barcode (QR code). The citizen signs the agreement, downloads the mobile application, scans the QR code present in the agreement, and provides the COVID-19 test.

The test results are entered into the system by the laboratory, which reflects in the citizen's downloaded application with the color coding of the QR code: red for a positive result and green for a negative result.

Before departure, the individual must verify that the test results are available in the mobile application, and the date matches the departure deadline—no more than 72 hours before the flight.

When crossing the border, the QR code from the mobile application must be presented.