Armenia has beat its own record for daily infections even as it continues to lift social-distancing restrictions. Authorities have said that maintaining the restrictions was economically unsustainable.
On 18 May, public transport, kindergartens, indoor restaurants, and gyms were allowed to reopen, with strict additional hygiene and sanitary requirements in place. The same day, the country registered 351 new confirmed cases, the highest number recorded in a 24 hour period at that point.
Outdoor restaurants, beauty salons and other businesses were allowed to open several weeks prior, on 4 May.
The State Commission on the State of Emergency announced that starting from 25 May, people must wear masks in all outdoor and indoor spaces or face fines of ֏10,000 ($21).
Armenia’s government has made it clear that the novel coronavirus will not be going away anytime soon, and that keeping the country’s economy in lockdown will have dire consequences.
Despite the growing outbreak, the government believes the economy must reopen and has called on Armenian citizens to express social responsibility and continue to follow proper social distancing and hygiene measures despite the decrease in legal restrictions.
The country will now be divided into 119 regions, each with its own monitoring groups consisting of police officers and personnel from the Ministry of Emergency Situations. These groups will ensure that residents, businesses, and other organisations are following all necessary social distancing and hygienic measures.
In an interview with Civilnet, Health Minister Arsen Torosyan said that Armenia has more than enough tests (over 50,000), and has been carrying out 10 tests for every one confirmed case.
According to him, as of last week, Armenia’s infection rate was 1.4, each person infected with COVID-19 was infecting an average of 1.4 people.
Health Minister Torosyan has stressed in the past that Armenia is one of the few countries that has been, for now, been able to hospitalise all confirmed cases of COVID-19.
But this strategy is changing. On 19 May, the Ministry of Health announced that due to the growth in new cases the country is adopting a patient reclassification strategy which would entail sending patients who are asymptomatic as well as those with mild symptoms back home.
Patients will stay in quarantine there under the supervision of state clinic doctors, this will allow rooms in medically repurposed hotels and hospitals to be opened up for those patients that require more urgent medical care.
Armenia currently has over 100 patients in critical condition and a death rate of 1.3%.
Armenia registered its first case on 1 March, and as of 19 May has 5,041 confirmed cases, 2,164 recoveries, and 64 deaths.
A state of emergency was announced on 16 March and included the closure of schools and non-essential businesses alongside strict measures limiting freedom of movement.
Health Minister Torosyan has said that the country’s initial anti-COVID-19 strategy was to test and trace the social contacts made by infected individuals. While the outbreak initially started as three major viral clusters, on 10 April, authorities confirmed that the virus’s spread had been so wide-ranging that it had gone beyond traceable ‘clusters’.
By 10 May, the country’s confirmed number of infections were doubling every two weeks. On 21 May, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that if current trends continue, Armenia will have 10,000 cases by 29 May and 20,000 cases by 12 June.
On May 24, 1915 the Entente powers (France, Russia and United Kingdom) adopted a joint declaration, condemning the Armenian massacres in the Ottoman Empire, calling the atrocities “crimes against humanity,” the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute informs.
The first and most important document on the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide was officially published in the capitals of three countries and was handed to the Turkish authorities.
The declaration reads: For abut a month the Kurd and Turkish population in Armenia has been massacring Armenians with the connivance and often assistance of Ottoman authorities. Such massacres took place in middle April (new style) at Erzrum, Dertchun, Eguine, Akn, Bitlis, Mush, Sasun, Zeitun and throughout Cilicia. Inhabitants of about one hundred villages near Van were all murdered. In that city Armenian quarter, us besieged by Kurds. At the same time in Constantinople Ottoman Government ill-treats inoffensive Armenian population, In view of those new crimes of Turkey against humanity and civilization, the Allied Government announce publicly to the Sublime-Porte that they will hold personally responsible (for) these crimes all members of the ottoman government and those of their agents who are implicated in such massacres.
Human rights activist Ruben Melikyan posted the following on his Facebook page:
“In relation to the prima facie torture of the person being kept at the police station in Kajaran, a criminal case should be immediately instituted as an absolutely necessary (but not satisfactory) response of the State, and there shouldn’t just be an official investigation or preparation of a report.
Years ago, the longstanding efforts of the active citizens of Armenia helped fundamentally do away with the defective practice of beating by police officers, and now, that defective practice is being revived in front of our eyes, and the ruling political party is fully responsible for this. We’re not going to allow this.”
TEHRAN, May 24 (MNA) – In a meeting with Hamid Zadboom, head of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI), Armenia’s Ambassador to Tehran Artashes Toumanian expressed his country’s tendency for expansion of trade ties with Iran and swap of goods with the country.
“Armenia is interested in expanding trade relations with Iran more than before,” he said.
“Commercial trade between the two countries should be revived by returning trade activities and relations to pre-Corona conditions and swapping goods,” he added.
The Armenian Ambassador to Tehran also called for more information on Iran’s export capabilities in the field of anti-coronavirus products.
The Iranian official. for his turn, said “the prevalence of coronavirus and the need for health and medical items, good cooperation between the two sides and we still expect to see the expansion of trade between the two countries due to the great potential of cooperation between the two sides.”
As accorded in this meeting, Iran and Armenia will hold the first meeting of their mutual industrial and commercial working group ver soon.
Kim visited Armenia in the early episodes to visit the Armenian genocide memorial and talk important issues with the nation’s president.
The newest season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians got off it’s first six episodes before closing shop for COVID-19 but the first half of the season certainly did not disappoint. One of the most important highlights of the initial episodes was Kim and Kourtney’s heartfelt visit to their heritage land, Armenia.
Kim previously visited Armenia along with Khloe and was left enamored by the experience. As a champion of Armenian culture and progress, Kim has a made it her mission to use her celebrity status to bring more attention to Armenian world issues.
The origins of genocide were incited through tensions amongst Turkish immigrants who were displaced from conflict with the Russians in Armenian lands. These Turks began to hold resentment towards the culturally different and well off Armenian communities. Eventually an ethnic division developed between the groups. Soon after, Turkish propaganda from the popular Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) political party began to describe Armenians as traitors, thieves, and infidels. This sentiment spurned the actions that led towards the eventual genocide.
Since then, Turkey has failed to acknowledge their past regime’s actions. They claim that the conflict that took place does not constitute the embodiment of the term genocide. The Turkish government at the time of these atrocities stated that these were retaliatory measures towards a pro-Russian insurrection. However, there is minimal evidence to suggest that the Armenians had anything to do with the Russians at the time. The push for recognition of the genocide in the West particularly has not been easygoing. Turkey is a huge political power in the region which has led to many Western nations turning their back on the atrocities that took place. In 2010, the US Congress passed a narrow vote to recognize the events that took place as genocide. Now many activists are pushing for the Turkish government to do the same.
Kim Kardashian is a major figure globally. Her status may be somewhat comparable to modern day princesses. As a proponent for Armenia and the recognition of this genocide, she aims to help facilitate better relations between Armenia and Turkey. The two countries understandably hold fierce tensions still to this day. Kim hopes that through the acceptance of wrongdoing both countries can work to move past their precedent issues. It’s worth considering that our present time period is a new day and age with new people who are not necessarily responsible for the past transgressions of atrocious ancestors. A simple acknowledgement of wrongdoing is all that is necessary for the two countries to foster a new beginning in their relationship. With Kim using her status to bring awareness of this horrific reality, she hopes the modern world can acknowledge past mistakes and therefore progress forward. Fans can check out her emotional visit to Armenia in season 18 of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.