Speaking on Monday during a Facebook live video, Pashinyan said: "I didn't have any symptoms. I decided to take a test as I was planning to visit the frontline", adding his whole family was infected.

He has led this former Soviet republic in the southern Caucasus Mountains for two years since a series of mass protests against the previous government had swept him to power.

Pashinyan said he was asymptomatic and would self-isolate in an effort to prevent spreading the disease.

"I will be working from home, from the prime minister's residence," Pashinyan said in the video address.

Armenia, a relatively small republic of about three million people bordering Turkey and Iran, has reported more than 9400 cases of coronavirus, with 139 deaths.

Australian Associated Press