YEREVAN, April 8. /TASS/. The first batch of 15,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine has been delivered to Armenia, Russian Embassy Counselor Pavel Kurochkin said on Thursday.

"Today, we have met the first batch of the Sputnik V vaccine purchased by Armenia at Zvartnots Airport together with the leadership of the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention of Armenia’s Health Ministry. These are 15,000 vaccine doses, which, as far as I understand, will be used to inoculate the population groups at risk. This is a continuation of a large-scale support provided by the Russian Federation to Armenia," the office of Russia’s Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation in Armenia quotes Kurochkin as saying.

On Wednesday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow that Armenia would receive a batch of the Russian vaccine. He also thanked the Russian leader for his support in the fight against COVID-19.

Armenia imposed lockdown restrictions on September 11, 2020. On January 11, they were extended by another six months. Face masks are mandatory, while all organizations, shopping malls, restaurants and public transport continue operating. Pashinyan earlier said that the coronavirus situation in Armenia was serious urging citizens to abide by anti-epidemic rules.

According to the latest data, the number of infected people in Armenia has reached 198,898, 3,647 people have died from COVID-19 complications.

Russia earlier sent a consignment of Sputnik V to Armenia, which enabled it to begin vaccination of health workers involved in the fight against coronavirus. According to the latest reports, 600 people have been inoculated by now.

On March 28, the first 24,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in Armenia under the COVAX scheme.