360 Children Hospitalized in Yerevan

360 children have been hospitalized in Yerevan - this number would have been 90% lower, had it not been over the holiday period. 

A total of three-hundred-and-sixty children are currently in hospitals in Yerevan receiving treatment for acute respiratory viral diseases, such as pneumonia. Most of the young people are below that the age of two. 

None of the children are seriously ill, and most of them did not require urgent treatment. But clinics were not operating to their full capability during the New Year and Christmas celebrations. Doctors say that, had their illnesses not have been over the holiday period, around 90% of the children wouldn’t have had to have been admitted. 

Deputy director of the “Holy Mother of God” medical center, David Dallakyan, told reporters that this number was lower than in previous years. 

“There wasn’t an empty bed in the entire department last year. That’s not the case this year,” he said. 

Liana Torosyan, from the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that this is normal of this time of year, and that there is no cause for panic

By Tom Day