Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 18.05.2020:

·       A record number of 351 COVID-19 cases has been recorded in Armenia in 1 day, and one new death has been reported.

A total of 4,823 cases have been confirmed as of Monday with 2,019 recoveries and 61 deaths. 2,718 patients with COVID-19 are currently undergoing treatment. In total, 41,850 tests have been completed.

According to health minister Arsen Torosyan, Armenia has more than 100 severe and critical COVID-19 cases.

·       Despite the record number of COVID-19 cases, the Armenian government lifts some restrictions approved earlier to stop the coronavirus spread in the republic.

Thus, from Monday, Armenia public transport has resumed operations, however, 'there will be special rules for the operation of public transport to reduce the risk of infection,' said Yerevan mayor Hayk Marutyan.

·       The number of COVID-19 cases globally nears 5 million. The death toll has reached 316,730, while 1,860,036 patients have already recovered.

The largest number of infections was reported in the US, Russia ranked second, leaving behind Spain.

China, where the pandemic began, is now in 13th place with 82,954 cases. There are almost no new cases in China.

·       The Armenian parliamentary committee leading a probe into the circumstances of the Four-Day Artsakh War of April 2016 has specific information regarding several issues, chair of the parliamentary committee Andranik Kocharyan said after the Monday's sitting.

The committee will finish its activities on June 4, 2020, and will publish the final conclusion of the committee, Kocharyan added.

The sitting today was attended by Armenian PM adviser Arshak Karapetyan, who held the post of Chief of the Intelligence Department of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces during the April 2016 events.

Earlier, Armenian ex-president Serzh Sargsyan and ex-PM Karen Karapetyan have also participated in the meetings.

·       The legal team of the Armenian second president Robert Kocharyan has received the decision of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan to deny the motions to commute Kocharyan's current precautionary measure of arrest; the decision consists of 92 pages.

The defense does not agree with the grounds of this decision and is currently preparing appeals, which will be submitted in the prescribed manner to the Criminal Court of Appeal in the near future.