The coronavirus has now a reproduction number of 1.02 in Armenia, Deputy Health Minister Lena Nanushyan said Thursday, September 17, noting that such a rate predicts the rapid spread of the virus.

The reproduction rate is a key measure of how fast the virus is growing. It's the average number of people who become infected by an infectious person.

The Deputy Health Minister said the rate was below 1 up until several days ago, evidenced by the declining number of new infections.

Nanushyan urged Armenians to continue following safety rules, or else she said a steep rise in new cases will be reported in the country.

The number of confirmed coronavirus infections in Armenia grew by 295 to reach 46,671 on Thursday. So far, 42,231 people have recovered, 925 have died from the coronavirus in the country, while 283 others carrying the virus have died from other causes.