11:20, 24 December, 2020
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. The winter conscription for mandatory military service will start on December 25 in Armenia, the Cabinet approved during a session today.
Servicemen who have passed their mandatory 2-year service will be demobilized by February 14.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
11:21, 24 December, 2020
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government will donate 5 ambulances to Artsakh.
The respective decision has been approved today at the Cabinet meeting.
Armenia’s healthcare ministry has purchased 30 ambulances and has received 12 more as a donation.
According to the current decision, it is proposed to donate 5 from these vehicles to Artsakh.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
11:15, 24 December, 2020
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. 702 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been confirmed in Armenia in the past one day, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 156,142, the ministry of healthcare said today.
1128 more patients have recovered in one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 136,766.
2743 tests were conducted in the past one day.
23 more patients have died, raising the death toll to 2714.
The number of active cases is 15,999.
The number of patients who had coronavirus but died from other disease has reached 663 (3 new such cases).
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
11:37, 24 December, 2020
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Scammers are attempting to defraud Armenians on social media by using a fake Kim Kardashian account on Facebook, the Armenian Agency of Personal Data Protection has warned.
“The fake Kim Kardashian account seeks to steal banking data, e-mail addresses and passwords,” the agency said, warning social media users not to share or comment such posts.
Editing and translating by Stepan Kocharyan
12:47, 24 December, 2020
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Locating border checkpoints is underway in Armenia’s Syunik province which has some complexities, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.
“Our belief is that this work should take place which is necessary from the perspective of ensuring the security of Syunik and Armenia in general. In any case our position, the position of the defense ministry is that we are increasing the security guarantees for Syunik with this activity, although it can lead to various comments, we are forming a new system of security guarantees of Armenia.
We have two settlements there over which there can be some issues: the one is Vorotan and the next is Shurnukh in Syunik province where there are some border-related issues over which a daily work is being done. These issues can lead to some painful situations, but I want to assure that if some problems emerge from the perspective of interests of our citizens, the government will make complete compensations and the interests of our citizens will be fully protected”, the PM said.
Pashinyan noted that disinformation flow is taking place in this respect. “For instance, there can be hundreds of publications over one case, with different episodes and interpretations. But I want to repeat again that there has not been and cannot be ant talk on conceding any millimeter from Syunik and the internationally recognized territory of Armenia. On the other hand, this doesn’t mean that these processes should be considered as border demarcation and delimitation, they are completely different matters. At this stage locating some border points is underway aimed at ensuring security”, the PM said, calling on to avoid emotions and calmly overcoming the current situation.
The Armenian PM also informed that today early morning he had a discussion with the Commander of the Border Troops, gave him concrete instructions on how to manage that process so that the interests of the citizens will be maximally protected.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
12:56, 24 December, 2020
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. During today’s Cabinet meeting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan asked Minister of Healthcare Arsen Torosyan to briefly present the current coronavirus-related situation in the country.
The minister informed that on December 23 the number of new cases is 702.
“It’s nearly two weeks we have no patient waiting for hospitalization at home. Moreover, we have started to return some hospitals to their previous work, but, of course, they are always ready for again dealing with the coronavirus. We follow the developments with this logic and again call on everyone to keep the anti-coronavirus rules”, the minister said.
In turn Pashinyan said Armenia was much better prepared for the second wave of COVID-19. “During the first wave there were many criticisms, some of which were politicized. They were showing us different examples on how bad the coronavirus cases are managed in Armenia, but our prediction turned into a reality that the countries, in fact, will be in the same situation, and this is just a matter of time and timeframe”, he said.
Minister Torosyan stated that the COVID-19 death toll in Armenia is very low, is within 1.5%, meanwhile, he added, in many developed countries that figure is reaching 7-8% or even 10%.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
13:02, 24 December, 2020
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting that the government’s most urgent task is to reveal the fate of those who are missing in action in the Artsakh war and to repatriate the captives. Pashinyan said the government is working very actively in this direction and that not all details can be made public.
He said the government has acquired a new DNA machine for the identification of bodies.
“A second DNA equipment has been acquired to speed up this process, and the device is already being shipped,” he said.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
14:27, 24 December, 2020
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. 69 protesters rallying outside the government headquarters in Yerevan as part of the Homeland Salvation Movement have been detained by police.
“As of this moment 69 citizens have been detained by police,” the Deputy Director of the Press Department of the Police told ARMENPRESS. He said the demonstrators have been taken to police for committing administrative offenses.
The Homeland Salvation Movement, created by various political parties, is holding civil disobedience demonstrations in central Yerevan demanding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
15:28, 24 December, 2020
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. His Holiness Garegin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, received today President of the Constitutional Court Arman Dilanyan, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin told Armenpress.
His Holiness Garegin II highlighted the mission of the Constitutional Court in preserving legality and justice in Armenia.
The meeting also touched upon the current situation in the country.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
15:02, 24 December, 2020
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Moderna Inc said on Wednesday it expects that the immunity induced by its COVID-19 vaccine would be protective against the coronavirus variants reported in the UK, Reuters reports.
The company said it plans to run tests to confirm the vaccine’s activity against any strain.
Moderna’s comments came amid the British government’s plan to place huge swathes of England under its strictest COVID-19 restrictions as a highly infectious virus variant sweeps the country.
The U.S.-based company said it would be performing additional tests of the vaccine in the coming weeks to confirm its expectation.