Monday,
Armenia Extends Coronavirus State Of Emergency
• Naira Nalbandian
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia -- Workers disinfect an ambulance outside Surp Girgor Lusavorich
hospital in Yerevan, April 8, 2020.
Armenia’s government on Monday extended by one month a state of emergency which
it declared on March 16 following the first cases of coronavirus recorded in the
country.
The government said that serious restrictions on people’s movements and a ban on
many types of economic activity imposed by it later in March are still essential
for slowing the spread of the virus which has killed 14 people so far.
During the extended emergency rule the government will also be empowered to
requisition hotels or other private properties for accommodating people placed
under quarantine.
At the same time, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s cabinet lifted virtually all
restrictions on coronavirus-related news reporting. They were already softened
significantly on March 26 following strong criticism from journalists and media
watchdogs.
“If further monitoring detects a rapid spread of so-called fake news we could
revert to those restrictions,” Justice Minister Rustam Badasian warned during a
cabinet meeting.
The Armenian Ministry of Health said in the morning that the total number of
coronavirus cases rose by 26 to 1,039 in the past day. The ministry reported
comparable daily numbers of new infections in the course of last week. The virus
spread more rapidly in Armenia earlier in April and in late March.
Citing the government data, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian, who is
responsible for enforcing the state of emergency, said the lockdown is working
and should further stem the spread of the disease in the coming weeks. The
authorities will also step up the controversial use of mobile phone data to
track potential carriers of the virus and continue to expand COVID-19 testing,
he told the Armenian parliament later in the day.
Armenia -- A police vehicle parked outside the Armenian government headquarters
at Yerevan's deserted Republic Square, March 25, 2020.
“If we manage to keep the downward trend in the spread of infections, the
restrictions will be revised,” Avinian said during a parliament debate on
emergency rule. Conversely, he added, the government will not hesitate to
toughen the restrictions if the infection rate goes up.
Pashinian admitted that the government’s decision on Sunday to reopen some
sectors of Armenia’s economy, notably open-air construction and cigarette
manufacturing, will increase the risk of an upsurge in coronavirus cases. But he
said the affected companies and their workers can minimize that risk by
following social distancing rules and taking other precautions.
Armenian farmers, food retailers, public utilities and services, banks as well
as food-processing, mining and cargo firms have been allowed to work throughout
the lockdown.
As well as expanding the circle of such businesses, the government decided to
maintain its nationwide ban on public transport for the time being.
During the parliament debate, lawmakers representing the opposition Bright
Armenia Party (LHK) called for the lifting of the ban. They said the government
should also allow more companies -- and small businesses in particular -- to
resume their operations. The pro-government majority in the National Assembly
rejected the LHK proposals.
Government Approves More Aid To Struggling Families
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a cabinet meeting in Yerevan,
April 2, 2020.
The Armenian government announced on Monday additional financial assistance to
low-income families hit hard by the economic fallout from the coronavirus
epidemic.
The government said it will pay half of all electricity and natural gas bills
for February that did not exceed a combined 15,000 drams ($30) per household.
Garegin Baghramian, the chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Commission
(PSRC), estimated that some 220,000 households will be eligible for the subsidy.
Armenia’s national utility companies already agreed, at the government’s urging,
late last month not to cut off for now electricity, natural gas and water
supplies to people failing to pay their bills because of coronavirus-related
economic disruptions.
“Those who have utility debts [for February] will have them reduced in a
corresponding way, while those who don’t will receive advance payments that will
cover their next payments,” Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian said during a
cabinet meeting held on Monday.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said the government will pay only half of those
utility bills because it does not want to undermine what he described as a
“strong culture of paying utility fees” existing in Armenia.
“The nominal amount of this assistance may seem modest, but the same citizens
[eligible for it] will still be able to benefit from other schemes,” added
Pashinian.
He referred to one-off cash handouts of between 68,000 drams and 136,000 drams
to various categories of the country’s population approved by his cabinet in
recent weeks. Those include registered workers who have lost their jobs or been
placed on unpaid during the epidemic, microbusiness owners and some pregnant
women.
Under its broader stimulus package approved late last month, the government is
also subsidizing commercial banks to provide cheap credit to small and
medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and farmers.
Artur Javadian, the governor of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), announced on
Monday that 741 SMEs, agribusiness firms and farmers have already qualified for
low-interest or interest-free loans worth a total of 10.5 billion drams ($21
million).
“There were pessimistic claims that nobody is going to apply for such loans
because they don’t need such aid and that a different kind of aid is needed,”
Pashinian said in this regard. “But these figures show that there is a fairly
good decree of [borrowing] activity and I’m sure that we will have even better
indicators … in the coming days.”
Armenia Denies Asking For Turkish Coronavirus Aid
Turkey -- Workers in protective suits spray disinfectant at Grand Bazaar to
prevent the spread of coronavirus in Istanbul, Turkey, March 25, 2020.
The Armenian government flatly denied on Monday a senior Turkish official’s
claim that it has asked Ankara to send medical supplies needed for tackling the
spread of coronavirus in Armenia.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top adviser and spokesman, Ibrahim
Kalin, claimed over the weekend that Yerevan requested medication. “Our
president has approved this request and our Health Ministry is running the
process,” he told the CNNTurk TV channel.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry insisted, however, that its officials “interacted”
with relevant Turkish authorities with the sole aim of evacuating Armenian
citizens from Turkey.
“The cooperation with the Turkish side occurred exclusively within this
framework, and Armenia did not ask for any other assistance beyond this
framework,” the spokeswoman for the ministry, Anna Naghdalian, said in written
comments.
Naghdalian said that buses carrying 73 Armenians who lived and worked in
Istanbul arrived in Armenia via Georgia on Friday. She stressed that Armenia has
also been trying to repatriate its citizens from other “countries severely hit
by the COVID19 pandemic.”
Armenia -- Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalian speaks at a
news briefing in Yerevan, 13 November 2018.
Erdogan reportedly expressed readiness to assist in the repatriation of Armenian
nationals when he spoke to the spiritual leader of Turkey’s ethnic Armenian
community, Patriarch Sahak Mashalian, by phone on April 8. According to the
Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul, Erdogan also said that Ankara is ready to
provide Yerevan with medicines used for treating coronavirus.
Commenting on that report, Naghdalian said on April 9 that such an issue “is not
on our agenda.”
The Turkish authorities have reported almost 57,000 coronavirus cases and 1,198
deaths resulting from them as of Sunday, compared with just over 1,000 cases and
14 deaths recorded in Armenia. Armenian government data shows that the rate of
new infections in the South Caucasus state fell significantly last week.
Armenia and Turkey do not have diplomatic relations. Successive Turkish
governments have also kept the border between the two neighboring states closed
because of the unresolved conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Naghdalian said on Monday that any potential Turkish-Armenian cooperation is
“significantly limited” the Turkish blockade. “Unfortunately, some statements
made by the Turkish side in the context of fighting against COVID-19 do not
contribute to creating a depoliticized and humanitarian environment for
cooperation,” added the Armenian official.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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