“We Are Receiving Worrying News”: Avanesyan on the Omicron Variant

“According to our assessments, in the near future we will unfortunately witness a decrease in recorded death cases,” said HealthMinister Anahit Avanesyan, presenting the current epidemiological picture in Armenia.

“We are receiving worrying news that the virus continues to mutate and new variants are being identified, differing from previous ones in their transmission activity. The latest subvariant has been identified from South Africa and is called Omicron,” the minister announced, adding that the variant carries 50 mutations, 30 of which pertain to the virus’s spike protein.

“Thorough studies are currently being conducted in several countries as well as by the WHO to determine what other characteristics this new variant has besides its active transmission,” Avanesyan said.

According to her, a number of restrictions are planned in Armenia to reduce the spread of the coronavirus Omicron variant. In particular, restrictions will be applied to citizens arriving from certain countries: South Africa, the Republic of Botswana, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Namibia, the Republic of Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Tanzania.