11:53,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The Cabinet installed Hovhannes Harutyunyan to be the new Governor of the Shirak Province, after Tigran Petrosyan resigned from office.
Harutyunyan, a former deputy Minister of Healthcare who served briefly in 2019, told the Cabinet members at a meeting today that he would do his best for the development of the province.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wished good luck to Harutyunyan in his new capacity.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
12:29,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenian health authorities will buy AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for 3% of the population by March 2021.
The first phase of vaccination will prioritize people aged over 65, health workers and those who have underlying health conditions, the Ministry of Healthcare told ARMENPRESS.
The ministry said that the vaccine is being bought through an agreement with COVAX FACILITY. “They offered it to our country, and because the price is affordable and it will be supplied faster, we agreed,” the ministry said.
Vaccination will not be mandatory. The ministry said there are many speculations over this issue, but reaffirmed that neither the coronavirus vaccine nor any other vaccines are mandatory in Armenia.
“Vaccination is optional, upon the desire of the person. The country cares for its citizens, it wants them to be protected, but I can say that this is in everyone’s interest,” the ministry added.
The COVAX FACILITY initiative continues negotiations over the acquisition of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine as well.
The second phase of vaccination in Armenia will prioritize teachers, emergency first-responders, members of the military and public servants.
Reporting by Lilit Demuryan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
11:26,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. 9 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Artsakh in the past 24 hours.
56 tests were conducted on January 18, the ministry of healthcare told Armenpress.
A total of 2266 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Artsakh.
The death toll stands at 31.
The number of active cases is 33.
The ministry of healthcare has again urged the citizens to follow all the rules to avoid new outbreaks and overcome the disease.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
13:14,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The leader of the Bright Armenia (LHK) opposition party of the Armenian parliament Edmon Marukyan has called on the international community to ramp up pressure on Azerbaijan to release the Artsakh War PoWs that are held in captivity months after the war ended.
Marukyan says that France and the United States should join the efforts of their OSCE Minsk Group partner Russia, as well as Armenia, in achieving the repatriation of the captives – one of the terms of the Nagorno Karabakh armistice.
The opposition leader says the entire international community should be consolidated in order to increase pressure on Baku, even achieve sanctions so that Azerbaijan returns the Armenian captives.
“In terms of humanitarian law they are wrong, they are wrong in terms of wartime rules of engagement, they are wrong even in terms of the rules by which the ceasefire was signed – Azerbaijan is wrong under all rules,” Marukyan said.
“I believe that the United States and France – as two Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – should join the efforts of Russia and Armenia, and on top of that the EU and other countries should also join. The civilized world must unite around this issue and pressure Azerbaijan into returning the Artsakh prisoners of war and civilian captives to Armenia,” he said.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
14:30,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Armenia wants to cut the New Year and Christmas public holidays and define only January 1st, 2nd and 6th as non-working days.
Now, the New Year and Christmas holidays in Armenia start from December 31st until January 7th.
The government has introduced the relevant bill for parliament’s approval.
According to the ministry of economy, cutting the non-working days will have a significant positive effect on the economy, with assessments estimating an 88,6 billion drams increase of the GDP volume and a 123 billion dram increase of GO.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
12:47,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ara Aivazian held a telephone conversation today with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, the Armenian foreign ministry told Armenpress.
The officials discussed the post-war situation in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone, the regional security and peace-related issues.
Introducing the implementation process of the November 9 trilateral statement on the establishment of ceasefire and the deployment of peacekeepers in Artsakh, FM Aivazian drew the attention of his French counterpart on the necessity of completely addressing the humanitarian problems which require urgent solution, in particular the return of Armenian prisoners of war from Azerbaijan.
The Armenian and French FMs also exchanged views on the ongoing steps of addressing the humanitarian crisis in Artsakh, highlighted the need for direct and uninterrupted engagement of international organizations to the process.
The talk also focused on the issue of the preservation of the Armenian cultural, historical and religious heritage in the territories of Artsakh which have come under the Azerbaijani control, as well as on the role of special international structures in this process.
During the phone talk the ministers also touched upon the resumption of the peace process in the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship format and the upcoming timetable of the Co-Chairs in this respect.
They also discussed a number of issues of the bilateral agenda.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
15:04,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan has been relieved from the position of Primate of the Artsakh Diocese and has been appointed Pontifical Nuncio-at-large on January 21, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin told Armenpress.
Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan has been serving as Primate of the Artsakh Diocese since 1989.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
15:44,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Bishop T. Vrtanes Abrahamyan has been appointed Primate of the Artsakh Diocese after being relieved from the position of spiritual leader of the Armed Forces of Armenia, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin told Armenpress.
Earlier today Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan has been relieved from the position of the Primate of the Artsakh Diocese and has been appointed Pontifical Nuncio-at-large.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
16:12,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. A scientific team of the Armenian Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory’s (aka Yerevan Physics Institute) Cosmology and Astrophysics Center is involved in a European astrophysical project which seeks to more precisely check the fundamental laws of physics. The results of the work affect the work of the GPS, GLONASS and Galileo systems, i.e. they have applied, commercial significance.
The head of the Cosmology center Vahagn Gurzadyan, who is a member of the board of this project, said they are now working on a new satellite.
“The accuracy of the results obtained from the new satellite would be greater,” he said, prioritizing international cooperation.
Gurzadyan said they have also presented recommendations to NASA for Artemis – the international human spaceflight program that has the goal of landing "the first woman and the next man" on the Moon, specifically at the lunar south pole region, by 2024.
Before that, NASA released an announcement for proposals calling for submission of proposals on what priority objectives astronauts ought to fulfill after landing on the moon. American and European scientific centers took part in the initiative, and Armenian scientists have also submitted recommendations, presenting the tasks which astronauts can carry out on the moon with the technology developed at the National Laboratory in Armenia. The proposal is now under discussion at NASA.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
15:52,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The powerful January 21 explosion that ripped through a building in central Madrid took place on Calle de Toledo, a street only 1 kilometers from the Armenian Embassy in Spain.
The gas explosion killed 4 people and injured 11 others.
The Embassy of Armenia said that there are no Armenian citizens or ethnic Armenians among the victims.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan