Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Coronavirus Phone Tracking Launched In Armenia
April 7, 2020
• Naira Bulghadarian
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia -- A deserted street in the center of Yerevan, April 7, 2020.
Armenian authorities have started accessing and using personal data from
people’s mobile phones to fight against the coronavirus epidemic, a senior
official said on Tuesday.
Armenia’s parliament controversially allowed them to track movements, phone
calls and text messages of people infected with the virus as the number of
COVID-19 cases in the country spread rapidly last week. Opposition lawmakers as
well as civic activists condemned the move, questioning its effectiveness and
voicing concern about privacy violations.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government has repeatedly ruled out using
smartphone tracking for political purposes. It maintains that the extraordinary
measure will make it easier for the authorities to trace people who have come
into contact with COVID-19 patients.
Such people are to be identified by an electronic system using phone location
and usage data.
According to an aide to Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian, who coordinates
the government’s response to the epidemic, the new monitoring mechanism has
already been launched.
“All personal data remains on mobile phone operators’ servers,” the official,
Bagrat Badalian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “We send them a phone number
which is of interest to us; namely a patient’s phone number. The special
software then determines the circle of their contacts.”
Armenia -- A woman wearing a face mask crosses a deserted street in Yerevan,
April 7, 2020.
“When that circle is determined we receive the phone numbers of only those
individuals who have potentially been in contact with the patient,” he said,
adding that they are then ordered to self-isolate.
“If they leave their self-isolation sites information about that automatically
goes to the police, which either telephones them or send a special group of
officers to find out the reasons for their departure,” explained Badalian.
The isolated persons, the official went on, are also monitored by
epidemiologists who may refer them to policlinics for coronavirus tests. “If a
person is in serious need in terms of food supplies … that information is
collected and passed on to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs so that it
supplies them with food,” he said.
Badalian did not say how many Armenians exposed to infected persons have been
identified through phone tracking so far.
The daily numbers of new coronavirus cases registered in Armenia have fallen in
the last few days. The Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday that 20 people
tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of
COVID-19 cases to 853.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced on Monday that as part of their efforts
to stem the spread of the virus the authorities are also planning to
significantly expand COVID-19 testing. He said the daily number of such tests,
which has varied between 200 and 400 in the last two weeks, will like reach
1,000 by the end of this week.
Armenia -- Coronovirus testing at a hospital in Yerevan, April 7, 2020.
Medics hailed these plans, saying that the more extensive testing will ascertain
the current incidence of the disease and the effectiveness of a nationwide
lockdown and other measures taken by the authorities.
“A larger number of tests will show what is really happening in our country and
whether or not it’s worth continuing mass testing,” said Arman Badalian, an
epidemiology lecturer at Yerevan State Medical University.
Hasmik Ghazinian, a senior doctor at Yerevan’s Nork hospital treating the
largest number of coronavirus patients in Armenia, agreed. “I welcome that
decision because that’s how we can first and foremost determine how many
infected people we have,” she said.
Government officials say that 60,000 test kits purchased from China will be
delivered to Armenia later this week. The authorities also expect to receive
thousands of more test kits from Russia.
Kocharian Again Sues Pashinian
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian (second from right) and his lawyers
attend a court hearing in Yerevan, January 9, 2020.
Armenia’s jailed former President Robert Kocharian has again filed a defamation
lawsuit against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, it emerged on Tuesday.
A lawyer for Kocharian, Hayk Alumian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that his
client is seeking 2 million drams ($4,000) in damages and the retraction of what
he regards as false and slanderous claims made by Pashinian.
Alumian did not specify which of Pashinian’s recent statements prompted the
lawsuit.
The premier again accused Kocharian as well as another ex-president, Serzh
Sarkisian, and other former Armenian officials of having “plundered” Armenia
when he campaigned for a constitutional referendum in early March. He did not
immediately react to the news of the lawsuit.
Kocharian already sued Pashinian for slander in September 2018 two months after
being first arrested on coup charges. He withdrew the suit in June 2019 after
Pashinian clarified through a lawyer that he did not publicly accuse the
ex-president of “organizing killings” during the 2008 post-election violence in
Yerevan.
The coup charges leveled against Kocharian stem from that unrest which left
eight opposition protesters and two police servicemen dead. The ex-president was
also charged with bribe-taking a year ago. He rejects all charges as politically
motivated.
The latest defamation suit was announced four days after Kocharian was taken
back to Yerevan’s Kentron prison after spending more than three weeks in
hospital. His lawyers renewed their demands for his release from custody, saying
that the 65-year-old will risk being infected with coronavirus in the prison.
Law-enforcement authorities countered that they are taking necessary
precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus among prison inmates.
All Foreigners Banned From Entering Armenia
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Armenia - The Zvartnots international airport in Yerevan.
Armenia has banned virtually all foreign nationals from entering the country due
to the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
The Armenian government imposed last month such a ban only on the citizens of a
few dozen states, -- notably China, Iran, Italy and Spain -- that were hit
hardest by coronavirus.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the government decided to
extend the travel ban to the entire world because virtually all countries have
recorded coronavirus cases in recent weeks.
In a statement, the ministry said that the ban will not cover those foreigners
who are married to Armenians or have Armenian residency permits as well as
foreign diplomats and representatives of international organizations. But it
cautioned that they all will have to self-isolate or be put in quarantine
immediately after entering the country.
Armenia’s land borders with neighboring Georgia and Iran were closed for travel
in March, and virtually all airlines stopped flying to Yerevan and Gyumri by the
beginning of this month. The latest government measure may therefore change
little in practice.
According to the Foreign Ministry statement, the government expanded the travel
ban on April 3 just before the spread of coronavirus in Armenia began slowing
down.
The Armenian Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday that 20 people tested
positive for the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of
COVID-19 cases to 853. Twenty-five other Armenians recovered from the virus in
the same period, according to the ministry.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian seized upon these figures to express “cautious
optimism” about the government’s efforts to contain the epidemic. He again said
that the government will consider easing a nationwide lockdown if the downward
trend continues in the coming days.
Armenia has reported eight coronavirus-related deaths so far.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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