Author: Alex Nanijanian

 14:31,

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says the purpose of prolonging the state of emergency is to further decrease the transmission rate of the novel coronavirus.

He said the daily infections stand at about an average of 30 cases, “which is a rather satisfying indicator in today’s conditions”.

Pashinyan said that as of April 11, the average age of the coronavirus fatalities in Armenia is 76,2 and the average age of active cases is 42. He said that the figures affirm the information that the coronavirus is most dangerous for seniors.

29 coronavirus cases were recorded in Armenia in the past 24 hours, bringing the total cumulative number of infections to 966. One patient has died and 24 recovered.

The total number of fatalities has reached 13, and the number of overall recoveries reached 173.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 11:01, 6 April, 2020

YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. 11 new COVID-19 cases have been diagnosed in Armenia in the past 24 hours, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on social media, signaling what appears to be an abrupt decrease of daily new cases, given that the previous daily cases were 52 (April 4).

“Out of 263 tests only 11 were positive. This is an unprecedented number for the past weeks. This means that the measures, which are causing numerous inconveniences, have begun giving results. The restrictions must be maintained stricter during this week. In that case, our chances for starting to think about easing the restrictions from next Monday will grow,” he said, calling on citizens to strictly adhere to the lockdown restrictions this week.

“Today’s number are giving hope, but we must certainly analyze tomorrow’s figures also,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that a 68-year-old coronavirus patient has died, becoming Armenia’s eighths COVID-19 fatality. The patient had underlying health conditions, he said.

The total cumulative number of COVID-19 infections in Armenia is 833, as of April 6, 11:00 GMT+4.

62 patients have recovered, 8 have died. The number of active cases is 763.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 12:37, 3 April, 2020

YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. The buses of the Yerevan public transport fleet, currently suspended amid the coronavirus outbreak, have been designated to be used as transportation vehicles for over 650 health workers of 30 different medical facilities of the city, City Hall spokesperson Hakob Karapetyan said on social media.

The vehicles will operate 40-routes , 3 times a day exclusively transporting health workers from their homes to the hospitals.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 15:46,

YEREVAN, MARCH 30, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian parliament passed at first reading the government-authored bill on allowing authorities to use mobile location data of citizens to trace direct contacts of confirmed novel coronavirus cases.

The bill passed with 57 votes in favor, 27 against and 1 present.

The mechanism does not foresee any surveillance on the content of calls or messages, according to the authors.

The mechanism will be introduced only during pandemic-related state of emergencies and all collected data will be deleted afterwards.

The ruling My Step faction said it has some recommendations to the government ahead of the second reading.

The opposition parties strongly disapproved the bill and voted against.

Arman Babajanyan, an independent lawmaker, also voted against, citing “very serious reservations and disagreements” of the Human Rights Defender, with whom he has discussed the issue.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 16:50,

YEREVAN, MARCH 30, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government has developed respective mechanisms for supporting the private sector operating in tourism field during the current state of emergency declared in the country due to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Chairwoman of the Tourism Committee Susanna Safaryan said at a press conference.

“Tourism is one of the most affected sectors due to the coronavirus. We can say that at the moment the number of tourism visits in Armenia and all over the world reaches 0, therefore, this sector is considered more vulnerable than the others. The private sector representatives involved in providing tourism services, such as the hotels, the guesthouses, tourism subjects, whose main consumer was the tourism, are currently facing damages. For this situation many discussions were held recently with various tourism subjects, including with incoming, outgoing tour-operators, tour-guides, hotel, guest-house representatives and others who faced damages due to the spread of coronavirus”, she said, adding that various mechanisms for assisting tourism sector were discussed recently.

She said the first measure is co-lending or re-lending, meaning that the private sector representatives can apply for lending to receive 50% support from the state. Susanna Safaryan said these sums can be used for paying the salaries of their employees, state or community budget payments, paying for fees or mandatory payments, as well as paying for utilities. Safaryan said this assistance can a little bit mitigate the losses the representatives of this sector are currently facing.

According to the third measure, lending support is envisaged to the small and medium enterprises operating in the tourism sector. This measure supposes lending to those subjects whose turnover is within 24-500 million drams. “I don’t rule out that there will be subjects that may be excluded from these assistance funds, but we are discussing various measures to meet also their needs”, she said.  

Armenia has declared a state of emergency on March 16 to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The state of emergency is effective until April 14. According to the latest data, number of people infected with the new coronavirus in Armenia is 482.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 13:57,

Moody’s Investors Service international credit rating agency has published its credit opinion update on Converse Bank on .

According to Moody’s report, Converse Bank’s baseline credit assessment reflects its solid loss-absorption capacity, underpinned by its good capital buffer and profitability, as well as its stable funding profile and liquidity

It should be mentioned that Moody’s has rated Converse Bank’s long-term local- and foreign-currency deposits B1 with “stable” outlook.

The full report can be accessed at https://www.conversebank.am/en/ratings/

 12:11,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. 133 out of the 160 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in Armenia are all linked with the two previously detected sources of infection – one in the town of Etchmiatsin (Vagharshapat) and the other in a manufacturing plant in Yerevan, healthcare ministry spokesperson Alina Nikoghosyan said on social media. She did not elaborate on the other cases. 

As of midday March 21, there are 159 active novel coronavirus cases in Armenia. One patient recovered and was discharged from hospital on March 15.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 16:08,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Ever since the novel coronavirus situation began and number of quarantined people began to grow, many of the isolated citizens started to praise and thank the healthcare authorities for their care and level of attention. At one time, the international press even wrote about the “5-star quarantine” conditions in Armenia, referring to the fact that authorities placed the first group of quarantine citizens in a luxury hotel.

Now, seems like the hazmat doctors even have a standard procedure on how to cheer up the quarantined nationals on their birthdays. 

One of the quarantined people, a woman who turned 33, was surprised by the medical personnel at an unspecified facility in Armenia on this special occasion. 

The entire hazmat personnel, carrying a birthday cake with candles and other sweets, knocked on the door and began singing “happy birthday” to the woman. Understandably, the hazmat medic carrying the cake leaned a bit away when the woman was blowing the candles.

“Happy Birthday: at one of the quarantine facilities, where I am the team lead, this is how we congratulate the birthday of one of our temporarily quarantined countrymen,” healthcare manager Narek Vanesyan said on social media and posted the video.

As of March 21, there are 159 active novel coronavirus cases in Armenia. 1 patient has recovered.

More than 600 people are quarantined.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan