The
COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread in April 2020 to the
Republic of Artsakh (a ''de facto'' independent republic which existed on territory ''de jure'' part of
Azerbaijan between 1991 and 2023). The first infected person was from the village of
Mirik
Mirik is a small town and a Notified Area of Darjeeling district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Mirik subdivision. The name ''Mirik'' comes from the Lepcha language, Lepcha words ''Mir-Yok'' meaning "place bur ...
in the province of
Kashatagh
Kashatagh Province ( hy, Քաշաթաղի շրջան) was a province of the Republic of Artsakh. It was the largest province by area (3,376.60 km2). The population as of 2013 was 9,656. Its capital was Berdzor.
Territorial entities
Kashatag ...
who contracted the virus from
Armenia.
Through May 2021, Artsakh is reported to have performed 25,040 tests, of which 2,749 were positive.
Background
On 12 January 2020, the
World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a
novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
The
case fatality ratio for COVID-19 was much lower than
SARS of 2003,
but the
transmission
Transmission may refer to:
Medicine, science and technology
* Power transmission
** Electric power transmission
** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power
*** Automatic transmission
*** Manual transmission
*** ...
was significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.
[
]
Timeline
March 2020
The border of the Republic of Artsakh with Armenia was closed in order to prevent the virus from spreading to the unrecognized republic, which had its general elections on 31 March.
April 2020
On 7 April, the Ministry of Health of the Artsakh Republic reported about its first coronavirus case after one of two suspected cases tested positive for COVID-19. The person is from Mirik
Mirik is a small town and a Notified Area of Darjeeling district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Mirik subdivision. The name ''Mirik'' comes from the Lepcha language, Lepcha words ''Mir-Yok'' meaning "place bur ...
.
On 9 April, three people were tested, of whom two tested positive for COVID-19, though one of them is a citizen of Armenia. The local who tested positive had registered to vote in Moshatagh (near Mirik). At this point, all known cases in Artsakh were from the province of Kashatagh
Kashatagh Province ( hy, Քաշաթաղի շրջան) was a province of the Republic of Artsakh. It was the largest province by area (3,376.60 km2). The population as of 2013 was 9,656. Its capital was Berdzor.
Territorial entities
Kashatag ...
.
On 10 April, one of the two additional confirmed cases was from Karvachar
Kalbajar ( az, Kəlbəcər , ) is a city and the capital of the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan. Located on the Tartar river valley, it is away from the capital Baku.
The city had a population of 7,246 before its capture by Armenian forces on 2 ...
, Shahumyan
Shahumyan Province ( hy, Շահումյան, Shahumyan, also spelled ''Shaumyan'' and ''Shahumian'') is a claimed province of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The capital of the province was K ...
, making it the second province in Artsakh to have a confirmed case.
On 15 April, in accordance with a decision taken by the Artsakh Republic's Special Commission on the Emergency Situation on 14 April, the free movement of people in the villages of Mirik, Moshatagh, Tsitsernavank, Karvachar, in the Kashatagh region, as well as the Verin Horatagh, Kochoghot and Haterk
Haterk ( hy, Հաթերք) or Hasanriz ( az, Həsənriz) is a village ''de facto'' in the Martakert Province of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' in the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan, in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The ...
communities of the Martakert region were restricted to the administrative boundaries of the respective villages and regions.
May 2020
As of 24 May, there have been 33 cases in Artsakh.
2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war
Several outlets reported increased cases of COVID-19 in Nagorno-Karabakh, particularly the city of Stepanakert
/ az, Xankəndi, italic=no
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline = File:StepanakertCollage.jpg
, imagesize = 300px
, image_caption = From top left: Holy Mother ...
, where the population is forced to live in overcrowded bunkers, due to Azerbaijan artillery and drone strikes, and difficulty in testing and contact tracing.
Statistics
References
{{COVID-19 pandemic
Artsakh
Artsakh
2020 in the Republic of Artsakh
2021 in the Republic of Artsakh