Lyudmila Petrova. “I am grateful  to all the villagers for keeping the restrictions.”

In order to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, they even had to change the order of burial in the village of Upper Dvin, Ararat region. Along with Lyudmila Petrova, who has been leading the village for 16 years, the community’s clergy have taken a stand on this issue. In a conversation with WomenNet.am, the woman village head told that during this time two residents died, everything was done to prevent the spread of the virus.

She would like to thank the fellow villagers who lost their relatives and friends for  understanding their request and keeping all the restrictions.

There was a real risk of the virus spreading in Upper Dvin, as there were six infected people. They all recovered, the last patient returned home a few days ago. As in many villages of the region, the source of infection was the “Sartex” enterprise operating in the Noragavit district near Ararat.

There are no new cases. The village has about 2400 inhabitants, 78-80% are Assyrians, the rest are Armenians. It should be reminded that Ararat region is one of the leaders in the number of infected people. On April 21, when the number of patients in the republic was 1401, in Ararat region it was 233. According to Governor Garik Sargsyan’s Facebook post that day, 89 citizens have recovered in the region, in fact 140 people are being treated, 4 deaths have been registered.

The busy season of agricultural work also helps isolation, everyone is in the fields, going in the morning and returning home tired in the evening. The people of Upper Dvin cultivate everything: flowers, greens, fruits in greenhouses and  gardens, grain sowing areas in the open air …

Petrova confesses that she does not want to lie, the streets of the village have not been disinfected. There are several reasons, first of all, most of the roads are not asphalted. Then, the daily washing and disinfection of internal roads with a total length of 29 km is a matter beyond the shoulders of the budget of a small village.

The head of the village has already agreed with the director of the kindergarten. Until May 14^th, the end of the state of emergency, the kindergarten building will be disinfected once. If a decision is made that the pre-school institutions will start operating, they will be disinfected once again a few days before the students attend. There are two functioning groups in the kindergarten, a total of 48 children attending.

The head of the community has noticed a bit of activity while walking in the streets of the village in recent days. But the heavy rain has put everything in its place.

On the other hand, the rain is very disturbing, the agricultural work is delayed, ”says the long-time village head.

Petrova regularly goes to work, stays until 15-16. Residents of social assistance programs apply to themselves in case of any problem.

“Our residents mainly benefit from the 9^th social assistance program, support for gas and electricity, as well as assistance for beneficiary families,” said the head of the village. They also deal with the problems of the beneficiaries who have been rejected in the village administration.

Regardless of the coronavirus, there are many insecure families in the village. But in recent years, due to the abundant harvest, the standard of living has improved, and construction has intensified. “Now let’s see what will happen,” Petrova asks again.