Wednesday,
Armenian Nursing Home Hit By Coronavirus Outbreak
• Susan Badalian
Armenia -- The closed entrance to a nursing home in Yerevan where at least 45
elderly residents and personnel were infected with coronavirus, .
Dozens of residents and employees of a nursing home in Yerevan were hospitalized
or isolated at the weekend after testing positive for coronavirus.
According to the Armenian Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, three of its 17
hospitalized residents remained in a critical condition on Monday.
The 28 other persons infected with the virus are care home personnel. A
spokeswoman for the ministry, Sona Martirosian, said they are kept in isolated
hotels because of showing no symptoms of the disease.
Some 200 elderly people lived in the nursing home located in Yerevan’s Nork
district until the outbreak. Martirosian said that they all underwent
coronavirus tests immediately after the health authorities detected the first
infections there late last week.
Martirosian told Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) that those residents whose test
results were negative will be tested again later this month. She said the
authorities have deployed additional medical workers to monitor their condition
around the clock.
Armenia has only three nursing homes where a total of 580 retirees live and
receive care and, if necessary, medical assistance. All of them were placed in
strict lockdown in late February even before the authorities registered the
first coronavirus case in the country.
So far COVID-19 infections have been reported only at the Nork home. The primary
source of those infections is not yet known.
Vahan Zurabian, the director of another Yerevan-based care home, confirmed that
there have been no coronavirus cases among its 210 residents. He said that his
employees looking after them have strictly observed the confinement rules.
“The personnel also don’t go home [after finishing their daily work,]” said
Zurabian. “There have been no visits or physical contacts [with outsiders.]”
All over the world care homes have been particularly vulnerable to outbreaks of
the virus because of the old age of their residents and close physical contact
among them.
End Of Lockdown Blamed For Rising COVID-19 Cases In Armenia
• Artak Khulian
• Susan Badalian
Armenia -- A masked commuter rides a bus in Yerevan, .
The lifting of government restrictions on people’s movements and business
activity has helped to accelerate the spread of coronavirus in Armenia, the
Ministry of Health said after reporting another daily high of new COVID-19 cases
on Monday.
The ministry said that 351 more people tested positive for the virus in the past
day, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 4,823. The latest number of
new cases is sharply up from the previous record high of 259 cases reported on
Saturday.
Also, the 7.8 percent increase represents the highest rate of daily infections
recorded since the beginning of April.
With one more fatality registered in the last 24 hours, the official death toll
from the virus reached 61. The number does not include the deaths of 25 other
people infected with the respiratory disease. The ministry claims that they died
primarily as a result of other, pre-existing conditions.
Alina Nikoghosian, the Ministry of Health spokeswoman, said that one of the
reasons for the increased number of new cases is that in recent days more
isolated people have had coronavirus tests at the end of their two-week
confinement.
“Those who have been in contact with the confirmed cases are also tested en
masse,” Nikoghosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “We are talking about whole
families and other large entourages. This is the second reason.”
Nikoghosian admitted that the end of the nationwide coronavirus lockdown also
contributed to the faster spread of the disease.
The Armenian government issued stay-at-home orders, banned public transport and
shut down most nonessential businesses in late March. It began gradually easing
these restrictions already in mid-April.
The number of new coronavirus cases has been steadily growing since then.
Despite that, the government decided last week to scrap the last remaining
lockdown restrictions, lifting the ban on public transport and allowing
kindergartens, shopping malls, indoor restaurants and cafes and gyms to reopen
on Monday.
Armenia -- A COVID-19 patient is brought to the Surp Grigor Lusavorich hospital
in Yerevan, April 8, 2020.
In Yerevan, 800 minibuses and 300 buses resumed their work in the morning.
Police officers were deployed at bus stops across the city to ensure that
drivers and commuters comply with social distancing and hygiene rules set by the
government.
The rules require them to wear face masks and gloves and disinfect their hands
with sanitizers that must be available inside all buses, minibuses and even
taxis. They also limit the number of people who will be allowed to ride them.
Most commuters interviewed by RFE/RL’s Armenian service backed these
requirements even if some of them claimed to be having trouble breathing through
masks. “For the sake of our health, we must stick to them as much as possible,”
said one woman.
Nikoghosian agreed that the end of the lockdown could facilitate further spread
of the virus. “At this rate, we will have about 6,500 cases by May 24 and more
than 12,000 cases by June 8,” said the official.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian downplayed the rapidly rising number of cases
when he spoke at a news conference on Saturday. Pashinian argued that more than
70 percent of the infected people are showing no symptoms and only a fraction of
about 700 COVID-19 patients suffering from pneumonia are in a critical or
serious condition. Armenia will face a serious health crisis only “if the number
of seriously ill people exceeds 1,400,” he said.
Nikoghosian said that the health authorities still have enough capacity to
hospitalize or isolate all infected citizens. But echoing statements by Health
Minister Arsen Torosian, she cautioned that they may soon have to tell
asymptomatic patients to stay at home.
Pashinian stated on May 4 that the onus is now not only on his government but
also on ordinary Armenians to contain the virus. He again defended last week
this “decentralized tactic of fighting against coronavirus.”
Critics accuse the prime minister of trying to dodge responsibility for his
administration’s failure to contain the epidemic. They say the authorities never
properly enforced the lockdown, ended it too soon and are now paying the
consequences.
Armenian Constitutional Referendum Delayed Indefinitely
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia -- Campaign banners urging Armenians to vote for constitutional changes
sought by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Yerevan, March 5, 2020.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has confirmed that due to the coronavirus
pandemic his administration will not hold anytime soon a planned referendum on
its controversial bid to oust most members of Armenia’s Constitutional Court.
Pashinian said over the weekend that they might be replaced instead by the
Armenian parliament dominated by his loyalists.
Armenians were scheduled to vote on April 5 on draft constitutional amendments
ending the powers of seven of the nine Constitutional Court judges who had for
months been under strong government pressure to resign. Pashinian has repeatedly
accused them -- and Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian in particular
-- of maintaining ties to the “corrupt former regime” and impeding judicial
reforms.
Tovmasian and opposition figures have dismissed these claims, saying that
Pashinian is simply seeking to gain control over Armenia’s highest court. They
also believe that the proposed amendments run counter to other articles of the
Armenian constitution.
The referendum was postponed on March 16 when the Armenian government declared a
state of emergency to deal with the coronavirus outbreak in the country. The
government last week extended it by another month, until June 14. Under Armenian
law, no elections or referendums can held during emergency rule.
In a relevant development, Justice Minister Rustam Badasian on May 14 asked the
Venice Commission of the Council of Europe to advise the government the
“resolution of the ongoing crisis over the Armenian Constitutional Court.”
The government had previously declined to send its constitutional changes to the
Strasbourg-based commission for examination. Badasian’s move was a further
indication that the referendum has been postponed indefinitely.
Pashinian said that the vote cannot be held at least before May 2021, implying
that it has been effectively cancelled.
“We were thinking that we will hold this referendum this year and hold another
referendum [on amending the constitution] during the next parliamentary
elections in 2023,” he told a weekend news conference. “But this timetable is
not quite working out because of this epidemic.”
“We therefore appealed to the Venice Commission, and are now discussing ways of
partly or fully resolving the Constitutional Court issue in the parliament,” he
said.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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