Thursday, April 2, 2020 EU Announces Coronavirus Aid Package For Armenia Belgium -- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen holds a news conference detailing EU efforts to limit economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, Brussels, April 2, 2020. The European Union announced on Thursday 51 million euros ($55 million) in assistance designed to help Armenia deal tackle the coronavirus epidemic and its severe socioeconomic consequences. The EU Delegation in Yerevan said this includes 18 million euros in “new funds” allocated to Armenia and 33 million euros that will be “redirected” from other projects which it had planned to finance in the country. It said the aid package will be used for supplying medical equipment, training medical personnel, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises and providing humanitarian assistance to socially vulnerable groups of the population. “More is yet to come through access to important regional banking facilities and further restructuring of projects,” the delegation added in a statement. According to additional information posted on the mission’s Facebook page, the EU will spend 30 million euros on supporting Armenian businesses by improving their “access to cheap loans, working capital and guarantees.” It also says: “Over 3,000 vulnerable households with elderly people, people with disabilities and large families in Shirak, Tavush and Lori regions will receive humanitarian aid packages.” The EU announcement marks the largest coronavirus-related aid allocation secured by Armenia so far. The United States last week pledged to provide with more than $1 million in similar aid. It is primarily aimed at strengthening Armenian health authorities’ capacity monitor infections and detect the virus. Armenia Praises Karabakh Polls Nagorno-Karabakh -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (C), Karabakh President Bako Sahakian (R) and Archbishop Pargev Martirosian leave a newly built church in Stepanakert, May 9, 2019. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Thursday described the latest presidential and parliamentary elections in Nagorno-Karabakh as democratic and said they could facilitate a resolution of the Karabakh conflict. “I think that those were high-quality elections and that is evidenced by their official results,” Pashinian said as he opened a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan. “The unprecedentedly large number of presidential candidates and participants of the parliamentary elections is quite telling,” he said. “Also quite telling is the fact that opposition, rather than pro-government, forces finished second and third in the parliamentary elections.” “And I think that further development of democracy in Artsakh (Karabakh) is important also in terms achieving a just settlement of the conflict and security and stability in the region,” added Pashinian. Azerbaijan strongly condemned the Karabakh elections held on Tuesday, saying that they run counter to Azerbaijani and international law. It also said that that the Armenian-populated territory, which broke away from Azerbaijani rule in 19991, is governed by an “illegal regime installed by Armenia.” U.S., Russian and French diplomats co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group stressed, for their part, that Karabakh is not recognized as an independent state by the international community and that “the so-called general elections” cannot predetermine the outcome of Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks mediated by them. The mediators noted at the same time that they “recognize the role of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh in deciding its future” as part of a future resolution of the conflict. The Armenian Foreign Ministry called the latter point “noteworthy,” saying that peace proposals made by the three mediating powers uphold the Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination. Official election results showed Ara Harutiunian, a wealthy businessman and Karabakh’s former prime minister, winning the first round of the presidential ballot with over 49 percent of the vote. Masis Mayilian, the outgoing Karabakh foreign minister, came in second with 26.4 percent, meaning that the two men will face each other in a runoff two weeks later. Also, five parties won seats in the Karabakh legislature. Harutiunian’s Free Fatherland will control the largest number of seats but will lack an overall majority. Both Harutiunian and Mayilian have good relations with the current Armenian government, unlike Vitaly Balasanian, a retired general who finished third in the presidential race. Balasanian has harshly criticized Pashinian over the past year. Pashinian’s political allies have responded by accusing him of maintaining close ties with Serzh Sarkisian, Armenia’s former president toppled in the 2018 “Velvet Revolution.” Incidentally, Sarkisian also praised the conduct of the “democratic” elections and urged all Karabakh factions to recognize their official results. Mayilian stopped short of doing so in a statement released on Thursday. “We are now holding political consultations and will inform the public about our further steps in the coming days,” he said. Balasanian made clear, meanwhile, that he will not endorse Harutiunian or Mayilian ahead of the planned runoff because of his “ideological differences” with them. He also urged the rival camps to “avoid upheavals and destabilization.” Both Mayilian and Balasanian again criticized the authorities in Stepanakert for not postponing the polls because of serious concerns about the spread of coronavirus in Karabakh. Mayilian pointed out that the coronavirus epidemic inhibited the work of hundreds of election observers who arrived from Armenia. Some of those observers reported serious irregularities on election day. They were particularly alarmed by the fact that many Karabakh voters photographed their marked ballots before casting them. Government Approves More Cash Handouts To Struggling Families • Artak Khulian Armenia -- Labor and Social Affairs Minister Zaruhi Batoyan at a news conference in Yerevan, April 2, 2020. The Armenian government approved on Thursday cash payments to more people who have been hit hard by economic disruptions resulting from the coronavirus epidemic. The fresh financial assistance will be provided to the underage children of those Armenians who had no officially registered jobs or businesses or did not receive poverty benefits when the unprecedented shutdowns began on March 12. Their parents will receive 26,500 drams ($52) per child. The government already allocated on Monday 68,000 drams to registered workers who have lost their jobs during the crisis. The employees of hotels, travel agencies, restaurants, clothing stores and other businesses closed since March 13 will be paid up to 136,000 drams. The government initially planned no such one-off payments to people involved in the informal sector of the Armenian economy. Labor and Social Affairs Minister Zaruhi Batoyan said the government will now also help “those citizens who could not benefit from the measures announced by us” earlier. Speaking during a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, she gave no estimates as to the number of the new recipients of the government aid. As part of its efforts to cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus lockdown, the government also decided last week to allocate grants to many private firms and subsidize commercial bank loans to small businesses and farmers. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Thursday that this aid package “will help hundreds of thousands of our compatriots to overcome this crisis.” Pashinian’s political opponents have dismissed these measures as insufficient. More Armenian Hospitals To Treat Coronavirus • Ruzanna Stepanian • Narine Ghalechian Armenia -- Medical workers are seen outside the Nork hospital in Yerevan where coronavirus patients are treated, March 20, 2020. Health authorities are setting up hundreds of additional hospital beds to cope with a continuing rise in coronavirus cases in Armenia. The Armenian Ministry of Health on Thursday added the country’s largest hospital, the Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center, to the list of hospitals that are currently treating only people infected with coronavirus. Dozens of ambulances began transporting its patients suffering from other diseases to three other hospitals also located in Yerevan. “We will finish [the evacuation] today and be ready to admit [coronavirus] patients starting from tomorrow,” Grigorich Lusavorich’s deputy director, Petros Manukian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. Manukian said that around 400 hospital beds, including those of an intensive care unit, will be made available for that purpose. Eight other hospitals located in Yerevan and four other cities were turned into COVID-19 clinics last month. According Health Minister Arsen Torosian, a total of 16 medical centers across the country are currently treating coronavirus patients. Torosian said on Thursday that the authorities are also making contingency plans to convert indoor sports arenas into makeshift hospitals that would accommodate hundreds and possibly thousands of more patients. “We must be prepared for any scenario,” he told a news conference. More than a hundred beds have already been placed at Yerevan’s Karen Demirchian Sports and Concert Complex, Armenia’s largest concert hall. Armenia -- Health Minister Arsen Torosian at a news conference in Yerevan, March 26, 2020. The urgent measures were announced as the number of officially registered coronavirus cases in the county reached 663, up from 571 cases reported on Wednesday morning. Torosian said that the vast majority of the 92 persons who tested positive for the virus in the past day had come into contact with known COVID-19 patients. Others include Armenians who were infected abroad and returned home in recent weeks, the minister said at a cabinet meeting in Yerevan. The Ministry of Health also reported another coronavirus-related death on Thursday, raising the nationwide death toll from the virus to 5. In Torosian’s words, four other people infected with the disease are in a critical condition. No other patients are connected to lung ventilators at present, he added. Coronavirus cases in the country are thus continuing to rise despite stay-at-home orders, travel restrictions and business shutdowns initiated by the Armenian government. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian blamed that on “widespread complacency” among Armenians. “It is this complacency which is creating the danger of a faster pace of infections,” complained Pashinian. He stressed at the same time that “the situation is still manageable.” Torosian also informed Pashinian and fellow cabinet members that the health authorities will sharply increase the number of coronavirus tests which have reportedly averaged over 200 a day in the past week. “Very soon 400-500 tests will be conducted on a daily basis,” he said. “This number will reach 1,500 after we acquire new equipment.” The equipment also includes 100 ventilators which are due to be shipped from China to Armenia in the coming days. Armenian hospitals currently have more than 70 such life-saving devices set aside for coronavirus cases. Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.