The Foreign Ministry is urging Armenian citizens to temporarily avoid visiting Iran, China, Japan, South Korea and Italy in the wake of the rapid spread of a novel coronavirus that has killed at least 2800 people worldwide, most of them in mainland China.

Should you choose to visit one of the countries, the Ministry recommends that you at least follow updates by the Armenian Health Ministry and contact Armenian Embassies if necessary.

China reported 433 new cases of coronavirus infections on Wednesday, Feb 26, the National Health Commission said on Thursday, up from 406 a day earlier. The total number of confirmed cases on mainland China has now reached 78,497, the Commission said, though the number of new deaths on Wednesday stood at 29, the lowest daily rate since January 28. The outbreak has now killed a total of 2,744 people in China.