Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 19.05.2020:

·       As of Tuesday, a total of 218 COVID-19 new cases were recorded in Armenia, bringing the total number to 5,041 cases.

According to the latest data, 2,164 COVID-19 patients—145 people in the past day—have recovered thus far, whereas 64 others—an increase by three—have died.

As health minister Arsen Torosyan noted, hundreds of citizens with positive COVID-19 test results but who have no symptoms or have very mild symptoms will return home from the places of isolation, while newly diagnosed citizens will not be isolated in hotels or hospitals.

·       Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan will attend the inauguration of Artsakh president-elect Arayik Harutyunyan into office.

The inauguration ceremony in Shushi town will be broadcast live on Thursday at 6 pm.

·       A videoconference of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council was held on Tuesday.

According to Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, in the context of global economic challenges, the need for the rapid formation of a common natural gas market today is particularly acute for Armenia, and a single market of non-discriminatory energy sources should be one of the foundations of our integration. 

He noted that Armenia proceeds from the fact that the application of common approaches to pricing in the EEU single natural gas market should be specified in the Strategic Directions of Development of Eurasian Integration until 2025.

In turn, Russian president Vladimir Putin noted that an EAEU single natural gas tariff cannot be set yet.

"A common tariff may only be introduced on a common market with a common budget and a common taxation system. Such a deep integration level has not been reached in the EAEU so far," Putin added.

·       The trial of the second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, has been rescheduled.

Presiding Judge Anna Danibekyan informed that a notification had been received from Izmirlian Medical Center stating that Kocharyan was in the hospital and could not attend this court hearing.

Given that the hearing could not be held in the absence of the defendant, the court adjourned until May 26.

·       The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has decided to allocate $280 million to Armenia to fight against the novel coronavirus, the fund said in a press release.

The IMF added that “the augmentation of access will help the authorities contain short-term risks and will provide resources to meet the urgent human and economic implications of COVID-19 pandemic.”