Ever since March Karabakh residents have not been allowed to travel to Armenia without a written permission issued by the head of a Stepanakert-based government body coordinating the authorities’ response to the pandemic. The body has also required citizens of Armenia and other countries to undergo COVID-19 tests before entering Karabakh.
The “commandant” heading the body, Zhirayr Mirzoyan, attributed the scrapping of these restrictions to a “drastic decrease” in coronavirus cases recorded in Armenia of late. Mirzoyan said the Karabakh authorities will at the same time step up their enforcement of anti-epidemic safety rules.
In particular, they will keep medical workers deployed at Karabakh border checkpoints. The latter will measure the temperature of people arriving in Karabakh from Armenia.
The authorities have reported 316 coronavirus cases and no fatalities in Karabakh so far. According to them, 277 of the infected local residents have recovered from COVID-19.
The first case was registered in early April ahead of a second round of voting in a presidential election. The runoff vote went ahead despite serious concerns about the spread of the disease in Karabakh.