Armenian healthcare minister apologizes for possible mistakes made at beginning of COVID-19 spread

Armenian Minister of Healthcare Arsen Torosyan apologized for the possible mistakes made at the beginning of the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.

Talking live on Facebook, the minister touched upon issues relating to the honesty, accepting the mistakes by the leadership, especially the ministry of healthcare.

“I wouldn’t touch upon this issue if I have not heard similar views from our colleagues. Today I want to be honest with you and perhaps apologize for some mistakes which took place willingly or unwillingly and I will explain you with what information, knowledge and principles we have been guided during the decision-making process. Firstly, I want all of us to fix that this disease exists in the entire world and it’s not a coincidence that it is called a novel coronavirus disease and there were many questions over the disease which are still unclear”, the minister said.

He said there were few countries which didn’t change their actions in fighting the disease, and these uncertainties were the reason why they delayed in something or made the decision some days later.

“I will not hesitate to say that yes, perhaps we need to apologize for the fact that we could act in another way on some matters. The situations are different, and in such situations different decisions can be made, starting from the quarantine, the closing of borders with different countries, although when we look at the chronology, it seems we were not so late. This situation forces us to look back and assess the actions taken. I want to thank the critics for pointing out the shortcomings in our actions. This allows us to improve and move on with the right steps”, the minister said.

Torosyan said during these 4,5 months they have learnt a lot, for instance they noticed that the ventilators were not so necessary, instead, the ordinary oxygen generators were much more necessary.

The minister also clarified why some decisions are changing during this period.

“There were two factors that time when I was stating that wearing face mask in the street was not mandatory. The first factor was linked with the deficit of face masks globally and the face masks firstly needed to be delivered to the healthcare workers, because the ordinary people were not so vulnerable that time. Coming to the second factor – it was unclear what effect wearing face mask in closed and open-door spaces was leaving in terms of the spread of the disease. But now all these issues are clear”, he added.