Author: Yeghisabet Arthur

 12:15,

YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian continues his discussions with international partners on the prevention and treatment-related issues of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

This time the President had a telephone conversation with Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London, Professor, Lord Ara Darzi and head of the medical center adjunct to the Moscow State University Aramayis Kamalov, the Office of the President told Armenpress.  

During the telephone talk with academician Kamalov, the President discussed the possible cooperation in the field of medical engineering.

Coming to the phone conversation with Lord Ara Darzi, the Armenian President highlighted uniting the efforts to overcome the disease, as well as the necessity to cooperate, exchange information and provide mutual support. The President informed that during an online lecture with the students of the Yerevan State Medical University and the National Polytechnic University he proposed the future doctors and engineers to start thinking of creating and producing simple lung ventilation systems in Armenia for the treatment of the novel coronavirus. In this respect, he proposed Mr. Darzi to provide support to this initiative by the engineering specialists of the Imperial College London and cooperate with the two Armenian universities.

On March 21 the Armenian President also had a phone talk with the well-known Armenian-American entrepreneur, philanthropist and venture capitalist Noubar Afeyan, the co-founder and chairman of the US bio-tech company Moderna Therapeutics. The American Moderna Therapeutics biotechnological company has created a vaccine against the novel coronavirus which has been undergoing clinical trial since March 17 in US, at the Kaiser Permanente healthcare research institution in Seattle, Washington.

In this context President Sarkissian welcomes today’s video conference to be organized by the FAST Foundation, involving Lord Ara Darzi, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative Co-Founder Noubar Afeyan, and IDeA Foundation Co-founder, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and UWC Dilijan International School Co-founder Ruben Vardanyan, Armenian Healthcare Minister Arsen Torosyan and London and McKinsey & Company executive Andre Andonian.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

Fri 20 Mar 2020 06:53 GMT | 10:53 Local Time

COVID-19 cases in India reach 219

 11:10, 20 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. 22 more people have been infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in India.

The total number of the confirmed cases is currently 219, the Indian health ministry said.

The ministry added that 163 of these cases are citizens of India, 32 are foreign nationals. 20 patients have recovered and 4 people have died so far.

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global pandemic and named the virus COVID-19. Cases of coronavirus have been reported in over 170 countries. Over 245,000 COVID-19 cases were confirmed globally.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 17:45, 9 March, 2020

YEREVAN, 9 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 9 March, USD exchange rate up by 0.66 drams to 480.48 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 5.74 drams to 547.70 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.53 drams to 6.51 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 7.58 drams to 630.87 drams.The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 406.74 drams to 26008.67 drams. Silver price up by 4.69 drams to 270.03 drams. Platinum price up by 466.36 drams to 13825.77 drams.

 10:48, 12 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 12, ARMENPRESS. Only one of the latest three coronavirus (COVID19) patients in Armenia is from Etchmiatsin (Vagharshapat), Mayor Diana Gasparyan said, denying reports on all three being from her city.

She said the patient is isolated and the direct contacts are being traced. She said she is in constant contact with Minister of Healthcare Arsen Torosyan.

On March 11, authorities announced three novel coronavirus infections in Armenia, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 4.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 13:15, 13 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan thinks that the expected reshuffles in the global marked caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus can open also new opportunities for Armenia’s economy, although it’s clear that these changes can also bring problems.

“Major changes are taking place in the world economy. And of course these changes can create major problems for the economies of all countries. But I want to note that in our opinion this period will not only cause problems to Armenia’s economy, but also will open new opportunities because reshuffles will inevitably take place in the world market. And I think that these reshuffles will open also new opportunities for the Armenian economy, although it’s clear that they can also create problems. We want to draw the attention of our business community to the opportunities which open today and will open tomorrow connected in general with the redistributions in the global economy”, the PM said live on Facebook, commenting on the current situation caused by the coronavirus in Armenia and the globe.  

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 17:45,

YEREVAN, 10 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 10 March, USD exchange rate up by 1.61 drams to 482.09 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 0.58 drams to 547.12 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.19 drams to 6.70 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 1.60 drams to 629.27 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 85.67 drams to 25923 drams. Silver price down by 8.32 drams to 261.71 drams. Platinum price down by 341.16 drams to 13484.61 drams.

 13:30, 2 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. The monitoring conducted in 90 pharmacies and pharmacy networks across Armenia revealed that the large networks didn’t increase the prices of face masks due to the novel coronavirus, but there is a deficit of these items, Chairman of the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition Gegham Gevorgyan told reporters today.

“After conducting a monitoring in pharmacies on March 1 we have found out that masks were exported from Armenia by non-major sellers. We have also recorded that no major importer has increased the prices of masks. At the moment there are some networks which do not have masks, but their prices have not increased”, he said.

He denied the reports according to which an artificial deficit of masks is created or there is an ungrounded increase in prices of masks. “There is an increase in prices of masks in small pharmacies, for instance up to 200 or 300 drams. At the moment we are holding negotiations with our foreign partners so that the Armenian importers can bring new batch of masks from abroad. The foreign partners inform that the deficit of masks exists in the whole world”, Gegham Gevorgyan said.

Gevorgyan also informed that the healthcare ministry has stored masks, there is no shortage of them in the state reserve.

First case of novel coronavirus has been confirmed in Armenia on March 1. The patient arrived in Armenia from Iran.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 12:50, 3 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. Leader of the Prosperous Armenia (BHK) opposition party Gagik Tsarukyan says quarantining the first coronavirus patient’s contacts at a defunct hotel in Tsakhkadzor is negatively impacting tourism at the resort town.

Tsarukyan claims many holiday-goers have cancelled their bookings at the town after the news of the quarantine.

The opposition leader said he is unhappy with the government’s preventive measures against the novel coronavirus. “Coronavirus is spreading around the world. Hospitals, pharmacies should had been instructed a month ago on securing necessary medical items, face masks. A month later, when the virus has reached our doors, we see there is shortage of masks and medicine,” he said.

On March 1, Armenia reported its first novel coronavirus case. The patient’s direct contacts have been quarantined at the defunct Golden Palace hotel in Tsakhkadzor. The Golden Palace hotel is a government-owned facility which was not functioning as the authorities were trying to auction it off. The venue was quickly equipped with necessary conditions and the quarantined persons are receiving high-level accommodation and care, authorities said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan