Minister Discusses Discrepancies in COVID-19 Death Statistics

The Minister of Health of Armenia, Anahit Avanesyan, addressed the discrepancies between COVID-19 death figures provided by the Statistical Committee and the Ministry of Health during a press conference with journalists at the government office.

The Minister noted that the Statistical Committee aggregates information from all data sources generated in the country and provides transparent data regarding the situation in Armenia. "The ArmEd system, over time, has expanded the content of its data repository, and at some point, there was a loss of information. However, that does not imply that it was concealed or excluded from the reported data in our country," said Anahit Avanesyan.

In response to comments that various restrictions related to the coronavirus, including the requirement for employers to present vaccination certificates or negative PCR test results, do not apply to officials, Anahit Avanesyan stated that the scope of any legal act does not necessarily need to include all members of society. However, that does not mean that any segment of society is exempt from regulations. "High-ranking officials in management bodies were vaccinated before the rules were established, and there is no deviation from equality or regulation here. The law on public services has specific regulatory frameworks and cannot implement regulations outside of that framework. If we had issues with vaccination, then their behavior would also be regulated not by the law on public services but by other regulatory frameworks," the Minister emphasized.