Update on COVID-19 in Armenia, Armenian ex-president Sargsyan to hold his 1st press conference, 17.08.20 digest

Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 17.08.2020:

• As of Monday morning, 38 COVID-19 new cases were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of cases has reached 41,701 in the country.

A total of 71 more patients have recovered.

Six new deaths were registered, making the overall death toll 824 cases.

And 6,018 COVID-19 patients are currently receiving treatment.

• The third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, on Wednesday will hold his first press conference after his resignation—and on the topic of the April 2016 war, the ex-president's office informed.

The press conference will be held in an outdoor green space.

In response to Armenian News-NEWS.am inquiry, Meri Harutyunyan, the person in charge of Serzh Sargsyan’s office, said that the third president will answer all the questions in detail during the aforesaid press conference.

"I can only say that there will be interesting revelations, including on the matters you mentioned," she added.

• Vahram Avetisyan has withdrawn consent to be elected the Armenian Constitutional Court judge.

"It became clear to me from the meeting with the MPs of the [majority] My Step faction [in parliament] and further discussions that some of the MPs’ approaches and ideas on the role of the Constitutional Court, depoliticization and independence of the Constitutional Court judge are not in line with my approaches and ideas, and in some cases—also unacceptable for me," he noted.

"Consequently, in such a situation, I consider it unrealistic to receive 80 votes in the National Assembly, and inexpedient—to participate in the further process of being elected to the office of a judge of the Constitutional Court," he added.

• The outgoing chief architect of Yerevan, Arthur Meschian, has been awarded 1 million 800 thousand drams.

The order to award Meschian was signed on August 14.

The order states, in particular, that Arthur Meschian shall be encouraged with a monetary reward for performing his work and service duties conscientiously and with high quality.

• The only aircraft owned by the Armenian government, the Airbus A319-132CJ (Airbus Corporate Jet) 701, was painted in Ostrava, Czech Republic, adding a large flag to its vertical stabilizer—and reminiscent of the Aeroflot Airbus A350, according to the Telegram channel of AviaNews.

Also, the photos of Armenia's modified "Number One" plane were posted on the Telegram channel of AviaNews.