Armenian officials rule out new lockdown even as COVID worsens

As Armenia’s COVID-19 epidemic continues to metastasize, with its infection rate among the highest in the world, the country’s leadership has said that it will continue to rely on voluntary self-isolation rather than reimposing a lockdown. The country ended its two-month lockdown on May 4 and since then the spread of the novel coronavirus has accelerated rapidly. For most of June, Armenia has been registering more than 500 new cases per day, often more than 700; it is the leader in the Caucasus and Central Asia in total cases and total deaths from coronavirus even as it has the lowest population in the region. While in some days recoveries outnumber new cases, on average the...