14:25, 13 March, 2020
YEREVAN, MARCH 13, ARMENPRESS. As part of the measures aimed at preventing the spread of the noel coronavirus in Armenia, the Central Bank has called on the population to avoid cash payments and use online banking services and non-cash transactions.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
The total count changed throughout the day: at first three new cases were reported, later the presence of the virus was confirmed in three more
UPDATE – 20:30
Another three people in Armenia have tested positive for the coronavirus, just hours after it was reported that the total number of infected individuals had risen by another three to 23.
Five of those who were infected were already in isolation.
“The other [sixth] case was recorded in Meghri, in a citizen who recently returned from Italy,” wrote Health Minister Arsen Torosyan on his Facebook page.
Now the circle of communication of the Meghri resident is being identified, and all who had contact with him will also be isolated.
18:00
The number of coronavirus infected in Armenia increased to 23 on March 15.
All three who have been diagnosed with the disease were among those in contact with a woman who came with the virus from Italy, and they were already isolated.
This woman decided not to isolate herself despite having a temperature and other symptoms of the disease.
During the 10 days before the virus was discovered in her, she attended a number of crowded events – including a wedding engagement. Several dozen people invited to this celebration are in quarantine, some were infected.
Among the infected, which became known on March 14, there is a schoolboy. He is already receiving treatment at the hospital; the classmates and teachers with whom he spoke have been isolated.
Spokesperson of Armenia’s Defense Ministry Shushan Stepanyan denied the information about evacuation of Dilijan Monte Melkonyan Military College disseminated in the web.
The classes there have been suspended till 23, like in other educational establishments.
The spokesperson also denied the information about coronavirus cases in the Armed Forces.
She said there are no coronavirus cases in the Armed Forces, stressing that the servicemen have not had any contact with infected or isolated citizens.
Armenia’s PM Nikol Pashinyan stated about 28 confirmed cases, of which 18 from Etchmiadzin.
He said only 3 roads of existing 27 will be open from Etchmiadzin since 9pm today.
The people leaving the town will be examined, those having temperature will be asked to go back home and self-isolate.
A school-age child is among those having tested positive for coronavirus on March 14.
Heath ministry reports that the child is hospitalized and the circle of contacts in school – students and teachers – are being isolated.
Armenia’s PM says their whole family underwent coronavirus test and the results will be available later.
Speaking in live video on Facebook, Pashinyan stressed that the test was made after their contacts with Meghri resident in Vayk.
“We have passed the test again with the whole family after having contacted with a Meghri resident in Vayk. We have entered a bistro and it appeared that we have passed by the mentioned citizen, contacted with him,” the PM said, adding that they will report after the results of the tests are available.
“If the test is positive we will stay isolated in Sevan, if negative, I will return Yerevan early in the morning and work from there,” Pashinyan said.
Twenty-eight confirmed coronavirus cases have been registered in Armenia so far.
TEHRAN, Mar. 15 (MNA) – Iranian Parliament Speaker’s Special Aide for International Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Sun. that opening Armenian Embassy in Tel Aviv runs counter to the interests of Palestinian people.
He condemned the decision taken by Armenian government in opening its embassy in Tel Aviv and described this move in contradiction with the interests of Palestinian people.
Amir-Abdollahian called the decision adopted by Armenian government in opening its embassy in Tel Aviv ‘surprising’ and added, “undoubtedly, this move is in conflict with the interests of Palestinian people and will leave negative impacts on stability and security of the region.”
He referred to the positions of Islamic countries on the necessity of realization of the rights of Palestinian people and strongly condemned any normalization of ties between Arab and non-Arab countries with the racist Israeli regime.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Amir-Abdollahian pointed to the steps taken by the Israeli regime in annexing the West Bank and called it ‘an aggressive and unjustified act’ that could further exacerbate tension in the region.
He termed friendly relations between Tehran and Yerevan as an important factor in preserving stability and security in the region and added, “it is hoped that Armenian government will revise its decision and adopt necessary steps to help the oppressed people of Palestinian.”
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The Spanish coach Joaquín Caparrós, who has just been hired by Armenia to lead the Caucasian team in the qualification phase of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, is already in Yerevan accompanied by Luciano Martín Toscano ‘Luci’, who will carry out his usual duties of second coach.
Luci, a native of Lepe (Huelva) and 47 years old, trained as a footballer in the lower ranks of Seville, played in the Second Division in clubs such as Recreativo de Huelva or Levante and has been part of the Caparrós coaching staff from his time at Deportivo de La Coruña, in 2005.
Together they also worked for Athletic, Swiss Neuchatel, Mallorca, Levante, Granada, Osasuna and Qatari Al-Ahli, and Luci coached Sevilla Atlético last season, when Joaquín Caparrós temporarily took over the sporting direction of Seville.
Within the last two months, the Armenian military killed four soldiers guarding the borders of Azerbaijan in the far western Gazakh district, which lies on the border with Armenia. / Courtesy
Leyla Abdullayeva, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, said that it is Armenia that threatens security, citing the killing of Azerbaijani border guards over the past few weeks.
“Once again, we bring to the attention of the Armenian side that the current status-quo established as a result of the use of force and ethnic cleansing [by Armenia], is in no way connected with the concept of security,” Abdullayeva explained in a written statement issued on March 10.
“The occupied territories of Azerbaijan and the presence of the Armenian armed forces on these territories are the source of the main threat to the security of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has always advocated the universality and indivisibility of the concept of security.”
“The withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, as well as the further cohabitation of the Armenian and Azerbaijani population of the region in the conditions of peace and the rule of law, are the determinants of building trust and rapprochement in the name of ensuring the region’s common security and prosperity.”
Abdullayeva’s words were in response to statements that appeared in Armenian media on Tuesday in which officials in Yerevan accused Azerbaijan’s military of deliberate exacerbation of the security situation along the borders. She said Armenian diplomats have seemingly confused the reality of Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and their international obligations.
“The Armenian side must correctly understand the existing reality and follow the demands of the international community for the complete, unconditional and immediate withdrawal from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, as well as the return of forcibly displaced Azerbaijanis to their homes, which is confirmed in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and other numerous decisions of international organizations.”
“Let no one doubt that Azerbaijan will ensure the restoration of justice, as well as its own territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds for almost three decades because of the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region which is an internationally recognized part of Azerbaijan. With the dissolution of USSR in 1991, Armenia began an all-out military campaign against Azerbaijan to capture the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, which had been partially populated with ethnic Armenians living alongside indigenous Azerbaijanis.
As a result of the three-year bloody war that ended only with a ceasefire in 1994, Armenia forcibly occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory, which includes the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven adjacent districts. The war claimed the lives of over 30,000 Azerbaijanis and expelled one million more from their homeland. In 1993, the United Nations Security Council passed four legally binding resolutions demanding Armenia to pull its armed forces back from the occupied territories, but all four go unfulfilled to this day.
Within the last two months, the Armenian military killed four soldiers guarding the borders of Azerbaijan in the far western Gazakh district, which lies on the border with Armenia. The last of the Azerbaijani conscript that fell to the Armenian bullet was Eltun Garayev, who was killed during a ceasefire breach by the Armenian armed forces stationed along the border.