Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Coronavirus Spreads in Nagorno-Karabakh Amid Heavy Fighting
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
October 21, 2020

Share

STEPANAKERT, Nagorno-Karabakh — People who are sick with the coronavirus pack into chilly basements alongside the healthy to hide from artillery fire. The local health minister who tested positive keeps working, despite a fever and pneumonia. Doctors with the virus perform surgery on the wounded.

These are the grim realities of the pandemic in Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist region in the South Caucasus mountains beset by weeks of heavy fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces.

“We just don’t have time to think about coronavirus,” said Irina Musaelyan, a resident of the regional capital of Stepanakert who was sheltering in a basement with her neighbors.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia for more than a quarter-century. It is facing the largest escalation of fighting since a war there ended in 1994, with hundreds killed since Sept. 27. Two attempts at cease-fires have failed.

The fighting has diverted the region’s scarce resources from containing the virus, which spread unchecked amid artillery fire and drone attacks that have people spending many hours in overcrowded bunkers, whether they are sick or healthy. Contact tracing has ground to a halt.

Health care workers have been hit particularly hard.

“Almost everyone got infected. Some had it in a light form and others in a more serious one,” Dr. Malvina Badalyan, head of the infectious disease clinic in Stepanakert, said of the region’s health workers.

Armenian medical workers examine a patient with suspected coronavirus in an infectious diseases clinic in Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020. Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces since a war there ended in 1994, faces an outbreak of the coronavirus amid the largest outbreak of hostilities in more than a quarter-century. (AP Photo)

Medical Workers Had No Time or Resources to Deal With the Outbreak

But in the middle of a war, with wounded flooding into hospitals, there’s nothing to do but keep working.

“Many doctors and nurses knew that they were infected, but they kept mum about it,” said Ararat Ohanjanyan, the health minister for Nagorno-Karabakh’s regional government. “They may lie down in a corner to bring the fever down and then get up and continue to perform operations.”

“No one has the right now to step aside,” he added.

When the the latest escalation of fighting started, medical workers had no time or resources to deal with the outbreak, Ohanjanyan said.

“We didn’t have time to track down those infected while Stepanakert came under heavy shelling, and it allowed contagion to spread,” he said.

Ohanjanyan himself tested positive for the virus just over a week ago — and he, too, has continued working despite a fever and pneumonia.

In the past week, the shelling of Stepanakert has become less intense and ambulance crews have finally been able to visit shelters and basements to track down the sick, Ohanjanyan said, adding that regular testing and isolation of those infected has resumed.

Patients in the most serious condition have been sent to Armenia, while others have been admitted to hospitals or are treated at home.

Ohanjanyan said authorities still don’t have a good handle on how many people are infected.

Even Coronavirus Patients at the Infectious Disease Clinic Have Been Forced to Seek Shelter in the Basement

Armenia, which supports the separatist region via a land corridor, has also seen a sharp increase in cases in recent weeks. The seven-day rolling average of daily new infections has nearly tripled since early October to 44 per 100,000 people on Oct. 20.

As Nagorno-Karabakh’s medical system faced the massive challenge, residents and health workers alike volunteered to deliver medicine to people sheltering in basements and to help track down those who are sick.

Dr. Aram Gregorian, who volunteered to visit those hunkered down during the shelling, said the cramped conditions in shelters helped fuel the spread of the virus.

“Constant shelling forces people to stay in tight groups in basements, and they can’t self-isolate,” he said. “Even those who have a fever and clinical signs of COVID-19 can’t get treatment or go to the hospital.”

Even coronavirus patients at the infectious disease clinic have been forced to seek shelter in the basement.

Arevik Israelyan, who was visiting her virus-stricken husband at the clinic, said the outbreak is a challenge, but people are mostly worried about the war.

“People get infected, but we will live through it,” she said. “The main thing is that there is no war.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

World’s Largest Almond Processor Will Shutter Sacramento Plant. 600 Workers Impacted

DON'T MISS

Trump Eyes Major Funding Cuts for California, Including All Public Universities

DON'T MISS

Farming Regulation Costs Rise 1,300% Since 2006: Cal Poly

DON'T MISS

Southern California Air Regulators Weigh a Plan to Phase Out Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters

DON'T MISS

US Supreme Court Allows DOGE Broad Access to Social Security Data

DON'T MISS

Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up.

DON'T MISS

Abrego Garcia Is Returned to US From El Salvador

DON'T MISS

Proud Boys Convicted in Jan. 6 Attack Sue Government on Claims of ‘Political Persecution’

DON'T MISS

FDA’s AI Assistant ‘Elsa’ Fails Its First Day on the Job

DON'T MISS

Documentary Series Goes Inside Trump’s Bubble

UP NEXT

FDA’s AI Assistant ‘Elsa’ Fails Its First Day on the Job

UP NEXT

8 Ways Musk and Trump Could Inflict Pain on Each Other

UP NEXT

D-Day Veterans Return to Normandy to Mark 81st Anniversary of Landings

UP NEXT

Lambda Legal, a Nonprofit Supporting LGBTQ+ Rights, Exceeded Fundraising Goal by $105M

UP NEXT

Trump Threatens Musk’s Government Deals as Feud Explodes Over Tax-Cut Bill

UP NEXT

Trump: Putin Said Russia Would Respond to Ukraine Drone Attacks

UP NEXT

Mexico to Announce ‘Measures’ Next Week if No Deal on US Metals Tariffs

UP NEXT

Pressure Mounts on Netanyahu as Opposition Moves to Dissolve Parliament

UP NEXT

Dutch Government Collapses After Far-Right Leader Wilders Quits Coalition

UP NEXT

Gaza Ministry Says Israel Kills More Than 30 Aid Seekers, Israel Denies

Southern California Air Regulators Weigh a Plan to Phase Out Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters

11 hours ago

US Supreme Court Allows DOGE Broad Access to Social Security Data

11 hours ago

Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up.

11 hours ago

Abrego Garcia Is Returned to US From El Salvador

11 hours ago

Proud Boys Convicted in Jan. 6 Attack Sue Government on Claims of ‘Political Persecution’

12 hours ago

FDA’s AI Assistant ‘Elsa’ Fails Its First Day on the Job

12 hours ago

Documentary Series Goes Inside Trump’s Bubble

12 hours ago

Tulare County Gang Member Convicted of Trying to a Murder Police Officer

12 hours ago

Newsom Promises Funding to Jump-Start ‘Science of Reading’

13 hours ago

Feds Indict SoCal Hospice CEO for Medicare Fraud in Fresno and Kern Counties

13 hours ago

World’s Largest Almond Processor Will Shutter Sacramento Plant. 600 Workers Impacted

The world’s largest almond processor, Blue Diamond Growers, says it will close its Sacramento processing plant this year The almond co...

10 hours ago

10 hours ago

World’s Largest Almond Processor Will Shutter Sacramento Plant. 600 Workers Impacted

11 hours ago

Trump Eyes Major Funding Cuts for California, Including All Public Universities

11 hours ago

Farming Regulation Costs Rise 1,300% Since 2006: Cal Poly

12 hours ago

Southern California Air Regulators Weigh a Plan to Phase Out Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters

12 hours ago

US Supreme Court Allows DOGE Broad Access to Social Security Data

12 hours ago

Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up.

12 hours ago

Abrego Garcia Is Returned to US From El Salvador

13 hours ago

Proud Boys Convicted in Jan. 6 Attack Sue Government on Claims of ‘Political Persecution’

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend