Sunday,
Authorities Step Up Control In Armenian Town Hit By Coronavirus
Residence of the Catholicos of All Armenians in Echmiadzin
Most exits from Echmiadzin will be closed for commuters after authorities have
designated the central Armenian town as a potential coronavirus hotspot in
Armenia.
In a live broadcast on Facebook late on Sunday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
said that 18 out of 28 coronavirus cases identified in Armenia so far have been
linked to a notorious engagement party in Echmiadzin held by a woman who had
returned from Italy and later tested positive for the infection.
Many of the 300 people who are currently under quarantine in Armenia are those
who may have had close contacts with Echmiadzin patients.
Pashinian said that starting at 11 pm on March 15 only three out of 27 exits
from Echmiadzin, a town of some 45,000 residents located about 20 kilometers to
the west of capital of Yerevan, will continue to operate. Temperature screening
will be conducted at the exit points, said Pashinian, asking those who have
fever to quarantine themselves.
Echmiadzin (also called Vagharshapat) is also an important religious center in
Armenia. The seat of the Catholicos of All Armenians, the head of the Armenian
Apostolic Church, is located in the town.
During the live broadcast the prime minister also reported about the recovery of
Armenia’s first coronavirus patient who was hospitalized on March 1. He said the
29-year-old man who had been evacuated from Iran is going to be discharged from
hospital soon after testing negative for the second time.
Meanwhile, Pashinian said he himself had to undergo another test for coronavirus
earlier on Sunday after having contacts with a Meghri resident who had tested
positive.
The prime minister and his wife Anna Hakobian had already taken tests with
negative results on Saturday as they spent a night in self-isolation in the town
of Sevan.
Pashinian said then they had decided to be tested after local media raised
concerns about Hakobian’s contacts with the wife of Brazilian President Jair
Bolsonaro during a visit to that Latin American country on March 7. The
Brazilian leader has since said he tested negative for the virus after it was
discovered that an aide and another senior government official were infected.
Pashinian said results of his new test would be available soon, and until then
he would remain in self-isolation in Sevan.
Earlier this week, citing risks to public health posed by the novel coronavirus
infection, Pashinian suspended his political campaign ahead of next month’s
constitutional referendum. As for the referendum, he said today: “No political
goal can be above public health.” The prime minister added that the referendum
issue, as well as the issue of declaring a state of emergency in some parts of
the country will be discussed on Monday and in the coming days.
In the referendum scheduled for April 5 Armenians are to be asked to vote on a
constitutional amendment that would lead to the dismissal of seven of the
Constitutional Court’s nine members installed before nationwide protests swept
Pashinian to power in 2018.
The seven, including Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian, would be
replaced by judges to be confirmed by the National Assembly, in which
Pashinian’s My Step bloc holds a majority.
Shopping Mall Closures, Self-Quarantines As More Coronavirus Cases Confirmed In
Armenia
Cars parked outside Dalma Garden Mall, a large shopping center in Yerevan,
January 9, 2020
Shopping centers, entertainment facilities and other public institutions have
been announcing suspension of their operations amid a rising number of
coronavirus cases in Armenia.
As the number of confirmed patients rose to 28 on Sunday, Yerevan Mall and Dalma
Garden Mall, two of the largest shopping centers in the Armenian capital, said
they will be closed on March 16-23 to reduce the risk of the infection spreading.
Yerevan Mall said only the Carrefour supermarket housed by the center will
continue to operate “in order not to restrict people’s ability to buy food and
other essentials.”
Earlier, to prevent a possible further spread of the virus the Armenian
government suspended classes in all schools, universities and kindergartens at
least until March 23 and tightened controls at its borders with Iran and Georgia.
According to reports, government agencies have also been looking into options of
letting their employees work from home whenever it is possible.
Initially, Armenia’s coronavirus cases were brought from Iran, Italy and France.
A majority of cases, however, were transmitted locally from a woman who had come
from Italy and participated in her son’s engagement party in the town of
Echmiadzin, some 20 kilometers to the west of capital Yerevan.
Among those affected is an employee of Armaeronavigation, a state-owned air
traffic control company at Zvartnots Airport located not far from Echmiadzin.
On Sunday, the administration of the company in charge of controlling traffic in
Armenian airspace said 75 of its employees had gone into two-week
self-quarantines at their workplace on the airport’s premises because of the
staff member’s diagnosis.
According to Health Minister Arsen Torosian, 300 people are under quarantine in
Armenia today.
Meanwhile, dozens of Armenian citizens were expected to arrive at Yerevan’s
Zvartnots airport late on March 15 on a charter flight from Rome arranged by the
Armenian government. Under a government decision, all of the arriving citizens
will be immediately placed under a 14-day quarantine.
Earlier on Sunday, Minister Torosian also called on religious organizations to
suspend mass events. “People’s health is above all,” the minister said in a
Facebook post.
Armenia’s Former Top Investigator Arrested In Russia, Official Says
• Naira Bulghadarian
Vahagn Harutiunian, former head of the investigative group on 2008 post-election
events
A former senior investigator wanted in Armenia as part of a probe into the 2008
crackdown on the opposition has been arrested in Russia, according to the
Armenian prosecutor-general’s adviser.
Gor Abrahamian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am) on Sunday that the
information on Vahagn Harutiunian had been reported to the Armenian police by
their Russian colleagues.
The official added that Armenia will soon initiate a process for Harutiunian’s
extradition. No other details are reported yet.
Harutiunian resigned as deputy chief of Armenia’s Special Investigation Service
(SIS) and left for Russia, ostensibly for medical treatment, in July 2018, three
months after Armenia’s “Velvet Revolution.”
He was first accused of forging factual evidence to cover up the Armenian army’s
alleged involvement in the post-election violence. Later, the SIS also charged
him with two counts of abuse of power also stemming from the long-running probe
of the 2008 unrest.
Harutiunian rejects all accusations leveled against him as baseless and illegal.
Eight protesters and two police servicemen died in Yerevan on March 1-2, 2008 as
security forces broke up opposition demonstrations against alleged fraud in the
February 2008 presidential election.
The former Armenian authorities accused the opposition of organizing the “mass
disturbances” in a bid to seize power. They jailed dozens of opposition figures,
including the country’s current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, on corresponding
charges.
The SIS radically changed the official version of events shortly after the 2018
revolution which brought Pashinian to power. It charged former President Robert
Kocharian and three retired army generals with illegally using the Armenian
armed forces against the protesters. Kocharian was taken into custody. All four
men, whose trial began last year, deny the accusations.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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