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Patients crowd the shelters, and the corona spreads during the Nagorno-Karabakh fighting

The medical staffs in the separatist enclave are busy with the many casualties, and many of them have infected themselves - but there is no time to rest.

"No one has the right to sit on the sidelines," the health minister said.

The critically ill are being evacuated to Armenia, and volunteers are handing out medicines in shelters.

"There is no time to think about the virus, war is more important"

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• Corona virus

• Nagorno-Karabakh

• Armenia

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Wednesday, October 21, 2020, 4:32 PM

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In the video: The Carbach hospital that Armenia claims Azerbaijan is valid (Photo: Armenia Ministry of Defense)

Corona patients crowd into cold cellars alongside healthy residents to hide from the shelling of Nagorno-Karabakh, while doctors diagnosed positive for the virus operate on wounded in combat.

This is the sad reality of the epidemic in the area that has been experiencing weeks of hard fighting.

The battles between the Azeri forces and the Armenian separatists who control the mountainous enclave in Azerbaijan are the worst since the 1994 ceasefire that ended the war.

Hundreds of people were killed in three weeks of fighting, and two ceasefires did not last.

The fighting diverted the limited resources from the struggle in Corona to combat needs.

Since the outbreak of hostilities on September 27, locating contacts with the infected has been halted and intense artillery and rocket fire has forced residents to crowd into bunkers, where it is impossible to separate the sick and the healthy.

Medical teams were hit particularly hard.

"Almost everyone has been infected, some mildly and others severely," Malbina Badalian, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic in the county capital, Stephencart, told medical staff.

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A jump in the number of people infected in Armenia as well.

Corona patients in Stephancart (Photo: AP)

However, in the middle of the war, when the wounded flood the hospitals, there is not much to do other than continue the work.

"Many doctors and nurses know they are infected," said Errat Ohanjanian, health minister in the Nagorno-Karabakh provincial government.

"They can lie in the corner to lower the heat and then get up and continue the surgery. No one has the right now to sit on the side."

He said since the beginning of the escalation, medical staffs have not had the time or resources to deal with the epidemic.

"We do not have time to locate those infected while Stephencart is under heavy shelling, and this allows the virus to spread," he said.

Ohanjanian himself was positively diagnosed with the virus more than a week ago, and he too continued to work suffering from fever and pneumonia.

He said that in the past week the shelling of Stefancart had subsided, and medical teams had finally been able to visit shelters and shelters to locate the patients.

He added that patients' routine tests and isolation had resumed.

The seriously ill were sent to Armenia, while others were evacuated to hospitals or treated at their homes.

However, Ohanjanian said authorities still do not know based on how many people have been infected.

Armenia, which supports the separatist province through a land corridor, has experienced a sharp rise in the number of infected in recent weeks.

The average daily infection rate in Armenia in the past week has almost tripled since the beginning of the month, to 44 cases per 100,000 people.

We do not have time to locate the infected, and this allows the virus to spread "(Photo: AP)

"Can't get into isolation."

Corona patients in Stephancart (Photo: AP)

Meanwhile, residents and medics are volunteering to hand out medications to those hiding in the basements and help locate those infected.

Aram Gregorian, a doctor who volunteers to visit those hiding from the shelling, said the crowded conditions in the shelters are accelerating the spread of the virus.

"The ongoing shelling forces people to stay in close groups in shelters, and they cannot go into isolation," he said.

"Even those with fever and clinical signs of Covid-19 cannot receive treatment or go to the hospital."

More on Walla!

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Civilians on the front lines fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh

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Irena Moslian, a resident of Stephankart hiding in a shelter with her neighbors, said the war had pushed aside the plague.

"We don't have time to think about the virus," she said.

Even in the infectious disease clinic in St. Petersburg, corona patients are forced to hide in a shelter.

Arbik Israeli, who visited her patient husband at the clinic, said the epidemic was a challenge - but the residents were mostly worried about the war.

"People get infected, but we'll get through it," she said.

"The most important thing is not to have a war."

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