Armenia Reports First Coronavirus Death

By Asbarez | Thursday, 26 March 2020

Medical equipment at the Nork Hospital, which specializes in infectious diseases

Medical equipment at the Nork Hospital, which specializes in infectious diseases

An American among two patients in critical condition.

Armenia reported its first fatality related to the Coronavirus outbreak, with Armenia’s Health Ministry saying the patient had preexisting medical conditions that exacerbated the treatment of the virus.

Health ministry spokesperson Alina Nikoghosyan announced the death of a 72-year patient at the Norkk Infectious Diseases Hospital on Thursday.

”A death was recorded at the Nork Infectious Diseases Clinic Hospital. The 72-year old male patient had tested positive for the coronavirus, suffered double pneumonia, multiple organ failure, respiratory distress syndrome, hypertensive heart disease and irregular heartbeat. Unfortunately, due to the multiple [preexisting] conditions it was impossible to save the patient’s life,” Nikoghosyan said in a Facebook post.

The spokesperson added that since Wednesday the patient was in the hospital’s trauma unit and was listed in critical condition. The patient was a citizen of Armenia.
He was a citizen of Armenia.

Over the past four days some 100 cases have been reported.

“Even if this rate of growth remains the same [in coming days] it will still be a manageable rate,” Armenia’s Health Minister Arsen Torosyan told told reporters a few hours before the the first fatality was announced.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday announced during a cabinet meeting that one of two patients listen in critical condition in Armenia is an American citizen not of Armenian origin. He added that the other patient is an Armenian citizens and both are over 75.

Pashinyan also reported that around 100 patients had been discharged from mandated quarantine after testing negative to the Coronavirus.

Armenia has registered 290 CoronavirusThe total cumulative number of COVID19 cases in Armenia is 290, 18 of whom have recovered.

During his press briefing, Torosyan announced that two of the confirmed 290 Coronavirus cases are doctors, while a nurse working in the Infectious Diseases Hospital tested positive for the virus on March 19. He also said that an ambulance driver also tested positive.

“This is unavoidable,” said Torosyan. “No matter how we try to protect them, they are the ones engaging with the infected patients. The infected healthcare workers are isolated, their lives are not in danger.”

Torosyan said that isolation was helping to defuse the spread of the virus and urged the population to adhere to the nationwide lockdown announced on Tuesday as a measure to curb the spread of the disease.

Meanwhile, Armenia’s Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan announced that three soldiers of the Armed Forces tested positive for the Coronavirus on Wednesday due to exposure to a family member of one of the soldiers who was diagnosed with the virus.

“The three cases are connected and are linked to one of the clusters that was recorded earlier in our country,” Tonoyan said in the statement.

He said comprehensive preventive measures were being taken in the military, but “nevertheless, it is impossible to prevent the virus’ spread into the army because a big portion of the servicemen are in daily contact with the civilian population.”

He said the three soldiers are from a military base which is not on combat duty. The three soldiers were isolated before the confirmation.

“The servicemen are now hospitalized, they are in normal condition, they haven’t developed pneumonia. One of them has mild fever, the other two don’t have any symptoms,” Tonoyan said, adding that the troops will receive high-quality treatment.

All direct soldiers in direct contact with the affected servicemen have been quarantined and another 32 soldiers are awaiting test results.

He said the military base where the cases were confirmed is located “at a significant distance from the frontline.” Tonoyan said, adding that heightened measures were being taken, with medical personnel monitoring the troops.

At the same time, Tonoyan noted that the heightened disinfecting and other anti-epidemic measures which are being taken in military bases for the past one month have resulted in an abrupt decrease of other infectious diseases, “which definitely proves the effectiveness of these measures.”

He said that acute cases of respiratory disease cases, chickenpox and tonsillitis cases have declined four times, while not a single gastro-intestinal infection case has been reported.

“I am sure we will win in this front as well,” Tonoyan said.

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