Friday, 

Government Vows ‘Strict’ Measures Against COVID-19 Infections

        • Karlen Aslanian
        • Naira Bulghadarian

Armenia - A busy cafe in downtown Yerevan, .

The Armenian authorities will strictly enforce their social distancing and 
hygiene rules for citizens after lifting virtually all restrictions on business 
activity in the country, senior government officials insisted on Friday.

They made the assurances after the Ministry of Health reported a record-high 
number of new coronavirus cases registered in Armenia in the past day.

The total number of cases rose by 184 to 4,044, with at least three more people 
dying from the virus and bringing the country’s official death toll to 52.

The figure does not include the deaths of 22 other individuals infected with 
COVID-19. The ministry claims that they died as a result of other, pre-existing 
conditions.

The daily number of new COVID-19 infections has been rising steadily since the 
government began easing in mid-April restrictions on people’s movements and 
economic activity imposed in late March. It decided on Thursday to lift the last 
remaining restrictions, including a ban on public transport and the closure of 
shopping malls and indoor cafes and restaurants, while extending a state of 
emergency by another month.


Armenia -- People outside churches in downtown Yerevan, May 12, 2020.

Critics say that the virus is continuing to spread rapidly because the 
authorities ended the lockdown too soon and never enforced it properly in the 
first place.

Justice Minister Rustam Badasian denied this while acknowledging “shortcomings” 
in their handling of the coronavirus crisis. “The quality of oversight measures 
must definitely improve,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

Public transport services in Yerevan and other major urban communities will 
resume on Monday. The latest government rules require commuters to wear face 
masks and gloves and disinfect their hands with sanitizers to be placed inside 
all buses, minibuses and even taxis. They also limit the number of people who 
will be allowed to ride them.

Bus and taxi drivers must not only wear masks and gloves but also change them 
once in every three hours. They will also have to have their temperature 
measured twice a day. Drivers having a fever will not be allowed to work.

Also, starting from May 25 all people will be obliged to possess masks when 
walking in the streets, parks or other public spaces.


Armenia -- A waiter disinfects a table at a Yerevan cafe, May 4, 2020.

They currently must wear them when entering shops, banks and other offices. The 
latter are not allowed to let in any unprotected customers.

This requirement is widely flouted by business owners, their employees and 
customers, a fact which is fuelling skepticism about the effective enforcement 
of the new rules set by the government.

Badasian insisted that the authorities will take “strict measures” to ensure 
widespread compliance with them. “All sanctions envisaged by us -- namely, 
administrative and even criminal liability -- will be enforced,” he said.

“But I am also calling on citizens to voluntarily abide by all restrictions 
because at stake is the health and safety of everyone and the older generations 
in particular,” added the minister.

“The rules are strict and monitoring of the compliance with them will also be 
strict,” said Deputy Economy Minister Varos Simonian.




Armenia Warns Azerbaijan Over War Games


Armenia -- The Armenian Defense Ministry building, Yerevan.

The Armenian military has warned Azerbaijan against heightening tensions in the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone during large-scale exercises which the 
Azerbaijani army will hold next week.

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry announced earlier this week that the five-day 
exercises will involve around 10,000 soldiers, hundreds of tanks and artillery 
systems, and dozens of warplanes and helicopters. It held similar drills in 
March.

In a statement released on Thursday, the Armenian Defense Ministry condemned the 
upcoming war games, saying that they pose a threat to the “regional security 
environment.” It accused Baku of ignoring United Nations Secretary-General 
Antonio Guterres’s recent call for a global ceasefire so the world can focus on 
fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are calling on the Azerbaijani side to show restraint and honor its 
obligations to the international community,” read the statement.

“At the same time we notify that any attempt to move military hardware and 
personnel close to the Armenian border or the Line of Contact with 
Nagorno-Karabakh would be viewed as a provocation and have appropriate 
consequences,” it warned.

Truce violations in the conflict zone have decreased significantly since 
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev 
met for the first time in September 2018. The two leaders and their foreign 
ministers have held regular talks since then.

Still, there have been signs of increased tension on the frontlines in recent 
weeks. Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army claimed to have shot down an Azerbaijani 
military drone on April 21 and said a week later that Azerbaijani forces have 
fired mortars on its frontline positions for the first time in almost a year.

Meeting with the Azerbaijani army top brass on May 2, Azerbaijan’s Defense 
Minister Zakir Hasanov said the likelihood of hostilities has increased 
dramatically because of what he called Armenian “provocative actions.” Armenian 
Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian denounced that statement.

The Defense Ministry in Yerevan reported on Wednesday that Azerbaijani troops 
fired from heavy machine guns at a border village in Armenia’s northern Tavush 
province. It released photographs of bullet holes and other damage caused to one 
of the village houses.

The U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the Minsk Group renewed their 
calls for the conflicting parties to “strictly” observe the ceasefire and “avoid 
provocative actions in the current environment” when they held a joint video 
conference with Mnatsakanian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov 
on April 21.

Speaking on May 12, Mammadyarov accused Yerevan of hampering progress in 
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. “Azerbaijan is committed to a political 
settlement of the conflict but negotiations cannot continue endlessly,” he 
warned.

Mnatsakanian rejected Azerbaijani “threats of use of force” and insisted that 
the Armenian side is prepared to negotiate a peace deal based on “mutual 
concessions.”


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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