Author: Vicken Chmshkian

 16:10,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Armenia drafted and put into circulation a bill on providing assistance in the form of a one-time payment to the victims of the Surmalu trade center explosion.

The ministry proposes to pay 150,000 drams and 300,000 drams to persons who were injured in the blast and received hospital treatment for up to 3 days and more than 3 days respectively.

Families of those who were killed in the explosion (including missing persons) will receive a 3,000,000 dram assistance for every victim (or missing person).

The August 14 explosion at the Surmalu trade center killed 16 people and injured over 60.

1 person is missing in the blast.

 13:52, 25 August 2022

YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, ARMENPRESS. An Iranian citizen is under arrest after attempting to illegally cross the Armenian border into Iran, the National Security Service (NSS) said in a press release.

The citizen, identified by the NSS only by their initials H.Z., bypassed on August 19 the Meghri border crossing point of Armenia, crossed the barrier in the area patrolled by Russian border guards and attempted to cross the border without documents and procedures into Iran.

The Russian border guards detained the Iranian. The suspect is in custody of Armenian NSS amid a criminal investigation.

 10:11,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 26, ARMENPRESS. A serviceman of the Armenian Armed Forces suffered burns when a household gas cylinder caught fire in a vehicle on August 25.

The Defense Ministry said that the victim, Sergeant A.M., is in serious condition.

 18:45,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS. It is critical that international community understands the severity of the humanitarian issues in post-war Artsakh and makes Azerbaijan to retreat from its aggressive behavior and its policy of ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Artsakh, leading to further complication of the already dire humanitarian situation, ARMENPRESS reports Human Rights Defender of Artsakh Gegham Stepanyan  said in his message on the occasion of the World Humanitarian Day celebrated on August 19.

“World Humanitarian Day is a reminder that we must act to alleviate human suffering irrespective of his/her origin, belief and other circumstance. Each year, World Humanitarian Day brings together partners from across the humanitarian system to advocate for the survival, well-being and dignity of people affected by crises.

As a result of the September 27, 2020 war against the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), an unprecedented situation of humanitarian crisis flared up in the country: thousands of casualties and disabled people – among them civilians and kids; about 40.000 forcibly displaced persons; prisoners of war, who are still illegally held in Azerbaijan under unknown conditions. Behind these statistics stand individuals, families whose lives are undermined and fates totally vague.

The November 10, 2020 Trilateral statement stopped the active phase of armed hostilities but inflicted new serious security and gross human rights violations by Azerbaijan, such as taking civilians hostage and threatening them, killing civilians (still with impunity), deliberate disruption of civilian infrastructure for causing serious humanitarian consequences, intimidation of the Artsakh people by different methods and regular violation of ceasefire regime. All these have been accompanied by hate speech against the Armenians by Azerbaijani’s president in his public speeches and on a state level discourse.

Due to unrecognized status of the Republic of Artsakh, the UN and other international organizations do not have presence in Artsakh, to monitor the cases of violations of the ceasefire, to record violations of international law or to provide humanitarian assistance. Although some support has been provided to Artsakh by different individuals and organizations, however a number of calls to the key international humanitarian actors are unfortunately still up in the air.

It is critical that international community understands the severity of the humanitarian issues in post-war Artsakh and makes Azerbaijan to retreat from its aggressive behavior and its policy of ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Artsakh, leading to further complication of the already dire humanitarian situation.

On this day, I thank all those who supported the people of Artsakh in overcoming the existing humanitarian issues and want to once again urge all the international organizations from across the humanitarian system to mobilize their will and resources to alleviate the suffering of the people of Artsakh․ The UN and other organizations with humanitarian mandate have a great role and responsibility in promoting international awareness and action on these issues”, reads the message.

 12:38,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Emergency Situations Armen Pambukhchyan says they have the sufficient number of firefighter-rescuers and equipment for the efforts in the ongoing firefighting and search and rescue operation at the Surmalu market in Yerevan.

He said the search and rescue operation continues intensively and more equipment will be deployed in an hour. “We are unable to do simultaneous actions because there are people under the rubble, we really hope they are alive,” Pambukhchyan said.

“We are carrying out our objective in cooperation with every ministry,” he added.

The remaining part of the exploded building could collapse, he warned.

Rescuers are now neutralizing the dangers coming from the standing pillars. Those trapped under the rubble could be under these pillars, Pambukhchyan said.

He said that the victims and injured people include both employees of the market and visitors. Most of the victims are visitors of the trade center.

Asked about the cause of the explosion, Pambukhchyan said that the law enforcement agencies will give the answer. “We can’t give an assessment, our function is to put out the fire and carry out search and rescue operations, and we bear the entire responsibility for doing that,” he said.

 19:42, 5 August 2022

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.

The interlocutors discussed the recent days’ tensions in Nagorno Karabakh. The Prime Minister expressed concern over Azerbaijan's deviation from the provisions of the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020 and reaffirmed the position of the Republic of Armenia on regional peace and stability.

Secretary of State Blinken expressed concern about the tension and willingness to assist in stabilizing the situation.

Armenian health authorities adopt policy of eliminating viral hepatitis by 2022-2030 strategy

 11:03, 28 July 2022

YEREVAN, JULY 28, ARMENPRESS. Armenia adopted a policy of eliminating viral hepatitis under the 2022-2030 strategy, the Ministry of Healthcare said.

The goal is to drastically decrease prevalence by 2030 with integrating patient care and treatment services.

Since 2020 patients with chronic viral Hepatitis C are provided with free anti-viral drugs. To ensure the continuity of the program, the treatment regulations with new drugs has recently been approved.

517 patients received treatment for Hepatitis C in Armenia in 2022.

Since 1999, vaccinations against Hepatitis B are carried out in Armenia, thanks to which acute Hepatitis B cases are not recorded among children below the age of 14.

Viral hepatitis remains a main cause of death worldwide, with more than 1,000,000 people dying from the disease every year.

There is no vaccine against Hepatitis C yet.

Common modes of transmission for these viruses include receipt of contaminated blood or blood products, invasive medical procedures using contaminated equipment and for hepatitis B transmission from mother to baby at birth, from family member to child, and also by sexual contact.

Early diagnosis of viral hepatitis is highly important for treatment, therefore regular testing is advised because the disease can have an asymptomatic course.

Free, anonymous testing is regularly organized in Yerevan and other cities.