Wednesday, August 5, 2020
Government To Again Extend Coronavirus State Of Emergency
Armenia -- Masked police officers patrol streets of Yerevan, May 25, 2020.
The government announced on Wednesday that it will extend a state of emergency
by another month next week to continue containing the spread of the coronavirus
in Armenia.
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian said the government will at the same time
fully or partly lift its ban on public gatherings and make it easier for foreign
nationals to enter the country. He also reaffirmed its plans to reopen all
schools and universities in time for the start of the new academic year.
“We have already devised various models of how to reopen public education
institutions depending on the epidemiological situation,” Avinian told a joint
news briefing with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. “We will present a final
program by August 10.”
“Such program-based models have also been devised for other spheres,” he added
in an apparent reference to libraries, museums and theaters which were also shut
down in March.
The decision to again prolong the state of emergency comes despite a major
decrease in coronavirus infections reported by the health authorities for the
last two weeks. Pashinian said that that the epidemiological situation in
Armenia is improving but remains “serious.”
Pashinian said he is worried that the falling daily number of new cases may be
making Armenians more complacent about COVID-19. The authorities should
therefore continue strictly enforcing social distancing and other rules aimed at
containing the epidemic, he said.
Pashinian’s government declared the state of emergency on March 16 shortly after
registering the first coronavirus cases. Emergency rule has been extended on a
monthly basis since April. It allows the authorities to ban all rallies, enforce
social distancing and hygiene rules, ban or restrict some types of business
activity and impose local or nationwide lockdowns.
The government kept the state of emergency in place even after lifting lockdown
restrictions and reopening virtually all sectors of the Armenian economy in
early May.
The monthly extensions of the state of emergency are increasingly criticized by
opposition groups. Some of them claim that Pashinian is exploiting the
coronavirus crisis to ward off anti-government street protests.
Edmon Marukian, the leader of the opposition Bright Armenia Party, was quick to
condemn the latest extension announced by Avinian. He said that the government
does not need emergency powers to enforce its anti-epidemic rules.
Last COVID-19 Patients Discharged From Some Armenian Hospitals
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia -- Medics look after a COVID-19 patient at the Nork Hospital for
Infectious Diseases, Yerevan, June 5, 2020.
Five Armenian hospitals have stopped treating people infected with the
coronavirus because of a significant decrease in new cases in the country, the
Ministry of Health said on Wednesday.
The ministry reported in the morning that 288 more people have tested positive
for COVID-19 in the past day, down from an average of 550-600 cases a day
registered in the first half of July.
It also reported only two more deaths caused by COVID-19. They raised the
official death toll to 770. The figure does not include the deaths of 228 other
Armenians infected with the virus. The health authorities say that they were
primarily caused by other, pre-existing diseases.
The daily number of officially registered fatalities averaged approximately 15
from July 6 through July 24.
The latest government data also shows that the daily number of people recovering
from COVID-19 continued to surpass that of new infections on Tuesday, cutting
the number of active coronavirus cases to 7,738. The vast majority of the
infected citizens remain self-isolated at home.
Armenia - An ambulance rescuer wearing a protective face mask and personal
protective equipment moves a patient into the Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center
in Yerevan on May 27, 2020.
According to a Ministry of Health spokeswoman, Lilit Babakhanian, the nationwide
number of hospitalized patients in a critical or serious condition fell from
around 650 in mid-July to 368 on Wednesday morning.
“There are already five hospitals that no longer treat COVID-19 patients,”
Babakhanian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. Two of them are located in Yerevan
while the three others in the towns of Vanadzor, Dilijan and Vedi, she said.
Health Minister Arsen Torosian announced later on Wednesday two more hospitals
will discharge their last COVID-19 patients in the coming days. Thirteen other
medical centers will continue to deal with the coronavirus, Torosian told a news
briefing.
Like Torosian, Nune Bakunts, the deputy director of the ministry’s National
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, insisted that the coronavirus crisis
in Armenia has been on a downward trend in recent weeks.
Bakunts attributed that to people’s and businesses’ increased compliance with
anti-epidemic rules set by the government. “We can say that measures taken by us
are bearing fruit,” she said.
Wearing a mask or a cloth covering mouth and nose not only in enclosed spaces
but also in the streets and all other public areas has been mandatory in Armenia
since the beginning of June. Thousands of people have been fined for defying
this requirement.
Armenia -- Armenian Red Cross volunteers hand out face masks to people in
Yerevan, July 6, 2020.
The government also claims to have stepped up since then the enforcement of its
social distancing and hygiene rules set for various businesses. It reopened
virtually all sectors of the Armenian economy in early May.
Echoing statements by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Bakunts stressed that
continued compliance with the government rules will be essential for further
reducing the country’s coronavirus infection rates, which have been one of the
highest in the world.
Pashinian expressed hope last week that Armenia will largely overcome its
coronavirus crisis already in September. Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian
announced, for his part, that the government is now considering reopening soon
schools, universities, libraries, museums and theaters shut down in March.
Bakunts was confident that their possible reopening would be regulated by strict
safety protocols. She said this should “neutralize or minimize” the risk of a
virus resurgence.
Armenia Offers Aid To Lebanon After Beirut Explosion
LEBANON -- A drone picture shows the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport
of Beirut, August 5, 2020.
Armenia expressed readiness on Wednesday to send humanitarian aid to Lebanon
following a massive explosion in Beirut which killed at least 100 people,
including several ethnic Armenians, and injured thousands of others.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian communicated the offer to Lebanese President
Michel Aoun in a phone call reported by his office.
Pashinian expressed shock late on Tuesday over the explosion at Beirut port
warehouses that sent a devastating blast wave across the Lebanese capital. “We
extend out solidarity and support to the brotherly people of Lebanon,” he wrote
on his Twitter page.
“Armenia is ready to urgently provide assistance to Lebanon and its people,”
Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian tweeted the following morning. “Beirut
glory will definitely be restored.”
The Armenian Foreign Ministry announced separately that it has set up a working
group that will “coordinate the provision of targeted assistance to Lebanon with
a Lebanese crisis agency.”
“The Armenian Embassy in Lebanon is in constant touch with relevant Lebanese
bodies to jointly assess the needs of the Lebanese side and the scope of
assistance,” said the ministry spokeswoman, Anna Naghdalian.
Lebanon -- A view of the partially destroyed Beirut neighbourhood of Mar Mikhael
on August 5, 2020 in the aftermath of a massive explosion.
Naghdalian added that the embassy is also assessing the needs of Lebanon’s
sizable and influential Armenian community. According to her, at least six
Lebanese Armenians were killed and around 100 others injured by the blast which
Lebanese leaders say was likely caused by highly explosive material stored at
port warehouses.
Naghdalian reported earlier on Wednesday that the blast caused “large-scale
devastation” in Beirut’s Armenian-populated neighborhoods. It reportedly damaged
the main local cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Armenia’s President Armen Sarkissian telephoned the Lebanese-based Catholicos
Aram I, the number two figure in the church’s worldwide hierarchy, to inquire
about the damage and the plight of the Lebanese-Armenian community. Sarkissian
“expressed readiness to help” the community, according to the presidential press
office.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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