The government needs to have tools to protect people’s health during an emergency situation. This is what Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan said during a special parliamentary session today, touching upon the bill proposing to lower the fine for not wearing a face mask in open spaces from AMD 100,000 to AMD 10,000.

“The government needs to have tools for this, but setting the AMD 100,000 fine is inappropriate and disproportionate. Right from the start, I knew that the government had the intention to start widely applying this fine,” he said.

Touching upon the prices of face masks, Ararat Mirzoyan said the claims about supply and demand aren’t appropriate, and the government must take sharp measures to regulate the prices and set rates since there is simply no alternative to that.