PM Pashinyan and Family Recover from Coronavirus

YEREVAN — Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Monday that he and members of his family have recovered from the coronavirus just over a week after testing positive for the disease.

Pashinyan announced their infection and went into self-isolation on June 1. Since then he has run the Armenian government from his official residence in Yerevan where he lives with his wife and three young daughters.

Despite the self-isolation Pashinyan held daily news briefings with other officials outside the residence throughout last week. The officials wore face masks and stood a couple of meters away from him during the briefings. The prime minister insisted that neither he nor any other member of his family is showing any symptoms of COVID-19.

In a Facebook post, Pashinian said that the entire family twice tested negative for the virus over the weekend. “I am returning to full-fledged work,” he said.

He noted that the timing and circumstances of their infection should be reconsidered. “However, at the moment it is important that we are all healthy and have immunity. Thank you for all the good wishes addressed to us during this time,” the prime minister wrote, adding that he was returning to full work.

The Armenian authorities have recorded 13,325 coronavirus cases and at least 211 deaths so far. The daily number of new infections has grown steadily and significantly since the authorities began lifting in mid-April a nationwide lockdown imposed in late March.