YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenian health authorities say they are observing a growth in COVID-19 cases in the recent days.

“This is the first time that we record such a high reproduction rate of the virus,” warned Romella Abovyan, the Director of the Department of Epidemiology of Infectious and Non-Infectious Diseases at the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

She said the rate stands at 2,3.

“We have an increase in the infection levels in all children’s age groups. Days ago Armenia was in the green zone under EU standards, but we already appeared in the orange zone over few days,” Abovyan said.

According to Abovyan, COVID-19 doesn’t have a seasonality and isn’t subject to any epidemiological laws. Instead, rapid growths and drops are seen every 3 to 4 months.

“If we hadn’t imposed any restrictions we could, for example, have 2500-3000 cases during the fourth wave. Therefore, enforcing preventive measures and safety guidelines is highly important. We already have two confirmed imported Omicron cases, but we don’t rule out that the variant is already circulating in our country,” Abovyan said, adding that vaccination is the only preventive measure.