Friday,
Government Vows ‘Strict’ Measures Against COVID-19 Infections
• Karlen Aslanian
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - A busy cafe in downtown Yerevan, .
The Armenian authorities will strictly enforce their social distancing and
hygiene rules for citizens after lifting virtually all restrictions on business
activity in the country, senior government officials insisted on Friday.
They made the assurances after the Ministry of Health reported a record-high
number of new coronavirus cases registered in Armenia in the past day.
The total number of cases rose by 184 to 4,044, with at least three more people
dying from the virus and bringing the country’s official death toll to 52.
The figure does not include the deaths of 22 other individuals infected with
COVID-19. The ministry claims that they died as a result of other, pre-existing
conditions.
The daily number of new COVID-19 infections has been rising steadily since the
government began easing in mid-April restrictions on people’s movements and
economic activity imposed in late March. It decided on Thursday to lift the last
remaining restrictions, including a ban on public transport and the closure of
shopping malls and indoor cafes and restaurants, while extending a state of
emergency by another month.
Armenia -- People outside churches in downtown Yerevan, May 12, 2020.
Critics say that the virus is continuing to spread rapidly because the
authorities ended the lockdown too soon and never enforced it properly in the
first place.
Justice Minister Rustam Badasian denied this while acknowledging “shortcomings”
in their handling of the coronavirus crisis. “The quality of oversight measures
must definitely improve,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Public transport services in Yerevan and other major urban communities will
resume on Monday. The latest government rules require commuters to wear face
masks and gloves and disinfect their hands with sanitizers to be placed inside
all buses, minibuses and even taxis. They also limit the number of people who
will be allowed to ride them.
Bus and taxi drivers must not only wear masks and gloves but also change them
once in every three hours. They will also have to have their temperature
measured twice a day. Drivers having a fever will not be allowed to work.
Also, starting from May 25 all people will be obliged to possess masks when
walking in the streets, parks or other public spaces.
Armenia -- A waiter disinfects a table at a Yerevan cafe, May 4, 2020.
They currently must wear them when entering shops, banks and other offices. The
latter are not allowed to let in any unprotected customers.
This requirement is widely flouted by business owners, their employees and
customers, a fact which is fuelling skepticism about the effective enforcement
of the new rules set by the government.
Badasian insisted that the authorities will take “strict measures” to ensure
widespread compliance with them. “All sanctions envisaged by us -- namely,
administrative and even criminal liability -- will be enforced,” he said.
“But I am also calling on citizens to voluntarily abide by all restrictions
because at stake is the health and safety of everyone and the older generations
in particular,” added the minister.
“The rules are strict and monitoring of the compliance with them will also be
strict,” said Deputy Economy Minister Varos Simonian.
Armenia Warns Azerbaijan Over War Games
Armenia -- The Armenian Defense Ministry building, Yerevan.
The Armenian military has warned Azerbaijan against heightening tensions in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone during large-scale exercises which the
Azerbaijani army will hold next week.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry announced earlier this week that the five-day
exercises will involve around 10,000 soldiers, hundreds of tanks and artillery
systems, and dozens of warplanes and helicopters. It held similar drills in
March.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Armenian Defense Ministry condemned the
upcoming war games, saying that they pose a threat to the “regional security
environment.” It accused Baku of ignoring United Nations Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres’s recent call for a global ceasefire so the world can focus on
fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are calling on the Azerbaijani side to show restraint and honor its
obligations to the international community,” read the statement.
“At the same time we notify that any attempt to move military hardware and
personnel close to the Armenian border or the Line of Contact with
Nagorno-Karabakh would be viewed as a provocation and have appropriate
consequences,” it warned.
Truce violations in the conflict zone have decreased significantly since
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
met for the first time in September 2018. The two leaders and their foreign
ministers have held regular talks since then.
Still, there have been signs of increased tension on the frontlines in recent
weeks. Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army claimed to have shot down an Azerbaijani
military drone on April 21 and said a week later that Azerbaijani forces have
fired mortars on its frontline positions for the first time in almost a year.
Meeting with the Azerbaijani army top brass on May 2, Azerbaijan’s Defense
Minister Zakir Hasanov said the likelihood of hostilities has increased
dramatically because of what he called Armenian “provocative actions.” Armenian
Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian denounced that statement.
The Defense Ministry in Yerevan reported on Wednesday that Azerbaijani troops
fired from heavy machine guns at a border village in Armenia’s northern Tavush
province. It released photographs of bullet holes and other damage caused to one
of the village houses.
The U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the Minsk Group renewed their
calls for the conflicting parties to “strictly” observe the ceasefire and “avoid
provocative actions in the current environment” when they held a joint video
conference with Mnatsakanian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
on April 21.
Speaking on May 12, Mammadyarov accused Yerevan of hampering progress in
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. “Azerbaijan is committed to a political
settlement of the conflict but negotiations cannot continue endlessly,” he
warned.
Mnatsakanian rejected Azerbaijani “threats of use of force” and insisted that
the Armenian side is prepared to negotiate a peace deal based on “mutual
concessions.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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