Category: 2021

 21:35,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. Unreasonable optimism should not be expressed over discussions and negotiations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, as there is no basis for that optimism, but the parties express a desire to discuss, talk, try to create a basis for optimism, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said in an online press conference. “We are ready to pursue that path”, ARMENPRESS reports the PM as saying.

Armenia and Turkey have appointed special envoys․ Armenia will be represented by the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Ruben Rubinyan, and Turkey will be represented by the former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkey to the USA Serdar Kilic. Their first meeting has not been scheduled yet. Pashinyan, however, expressed hope that the meeting will be scheduled as soon as possible. A rather long process is expected, and one should not have exaggerated expectations from one or two meetings in order to record a concrete result.

PM Pashinyan does not agree with the opinions voiced by the opposition that with the readiness of such negotiations Armenia has agreed to Turkey's preconditions regarding the "Zangezur Corridor". "Armenia has not discussed, does not discuss and will not discuss any issue in the corridor logic. In terms of relations with Turkey, if we ask the question in the logic of communications, the agenda of creating, building and shaping transit routes may be important for us. And if during our contact with Turkey it turns out that the expected opening of the communications can have a larger regional significance, it will be one of the key issues on our agenda. One of the issues will be, for example, the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border and the railway.

There are talks about the reopening of air communication, which we positively assess, we welcome, we hope that mutual flights will start. In other words, our expectation is the normalization of relations, but we must understand that we are dealing with a complex problem, which has many nuances and sensitivities. There is a lot of emotional attitude to the issue in the Republic of Armenia”, Pashinyan emphasized.

He added that all the Armenian authorities have said that they are ready to normalize relations with Turkey without preconditions, which means that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide has never been a precondition for normalization of relations with Turkey and opening of borders. According to the Prime Minister, the Armenian government has clearly stated its position on the issue of international recognition of the Genocide.

Pashinyan also noted that there ais no agreement or idea for meeting with the Turkish president, but if the negotiation process between the envoys goes on successfully, high and top level meetings can take place.

 11:09,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. 118 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the last 24 hours, bringing the cumulative total number of confirmed cases to 344,379, the Armenian National Center for Disease Control and Prevention said.

7084 tests were administered (total 2,530,000).

3 people died, raising the death toll to 7942.

328 patients recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 330,311.

As of December 25 the number of active cases stood at 4628.

 11:18,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. Hrachya Sargsyan was sworn in as the 56^th Mayor of Yerevan in the morning of December 25.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan and other government officials attended the inauguration ceremony at City Hall.

Taking the oath of office, Sargsyan swore to “……..serve for the prosperity of Yerevan and the welfare of its residents.”

He was then presented with the mayoral chain of office.

Mayor Sargsyan vowed to employ effective management, innovative approaches and everyday dedicated work in governing the city and developing its infrastructures.

The inauguration comes days after Mayor Hayk Marutyan was ousted by the City Council’s ruling bloc with a no-confidence vote.

 11:20,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. 57% of people who died from COVID-19 in Armenia are men, and 43% are women, according to the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).

However, from all confirmed cases of infections 41% are men while 59% are women, NCDC Director of the Department of Epidemiology of Infectious and Non-Infectious Diseases Romella Abovyan told reporters.

The COVID-19 death toll in Armenia stood at 7942 as of December 25.

 11:35,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. 90,5% of health workers in Armenia are vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).

NCDC Director of the Department of Epidemiology of Infectious and Non-Infectious Diseases Romella Abovyan told reporters that between 2020 March and December 2021 a total of 7481 health workers were infected with COVID-19 (2297 doctors, 3238 nurses, 893 midwives and 1053 other specialists).

 11:51,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Armenia will continue supporting the Mayor of Yerevan and the City Council in implementing all programs which were outlined in 2017-2018, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in his speech at the inauguration of Hrachya Sargsyan as Mayor of Yerevan.

PM Pashinyan congratulated the new Mayor and wished him good luck and success in his work.

“I’d also like to congratulate the Yerevan City Council, because I believe that the establishment of the state institutions is one of our most important objectives on the agenda. With the events of the recent days the Yerevan City Council displayed a clear political will on the path of the establishment of a new model of local-self government in Armenia,” the PM said.

He noted that over the past few years the government provided significant and effective support to the Yerevan City Hall, allocating over 50 billion drams through various financial levers.

 14:18,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. There were only 6 cases of people experiencing anaphylaxis after getting the COVID-19 shot in the nearly 1,5 million vaccinations that were administered so far in Armenia, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention Deputy Director Gayane Sahakyan said at a media event.

“Out of all 1,5 million vaccinations we’ve had only 6 people who experienced anaphylaxis, and none of them required hospitalization,” Sahakyan, the head of the National Immunization Program said.

She said that if the necessary medical intervention is provided to persons experiencing anaphylaxis within one hour of onset then the patient won’t require hospitalization and will recover quickly.