Health System May Not Stand It - Ilham Aliyev

Baku / 25.06.20 / Turan: If the spread of coronavirus infection continues at its current pace, then Azerbaijan’s healthcare system may not be able to withstand it. This was stated by President Ilham Aliyev, speaking at the opening of the Ganja Infectious Disease Hospital Number 1.

“The preventive measures taken at the initial stage saved us from great trouble, because the number of people infected in Azerbaijan is small in relation to the population. 13 thousand people were infected. The vast majority of them recovered. Therefore, preventive and restrictive measures have benefited,” Aliyev said.

The increase in the number of people who recovered over those infected in May made it possible to ease the restrictions. However, in the recent period, infections are growing again.

“This indicates that, despite all the requirements, some people showed irresponsibility and do not comply with elementary rules,” Aliyev said. He complained about the violation of the rules in Azerbaijan "in droves".

“That is why we reintroduced restrictive measures, because the dynamics of diseases is growing, and if it goes on like that, then our healthcare system will not withstand. Therefore, from the beginning of this week a more stringent quarantine regime was introduced in Baku and several other cities,” Aliyev continued.

“We highly appreciate the activities of doctors who also become infected, and who also die. Now we are attracting all of our doctors. If the pandemic spreads even more tomorrow, where will we place them? Suppose we place them at the expense of new hospitals, but how to increase the number of doctors?! Everyone should think about it,” Aliyev noted.

He also announced a possible tightening of liability for violation of the mask regime.

“If managers see that their employees don’t wear masks, they must take action. If this continues, then I will instruct to increase the size of fines,” Aliyev said. —06D-