Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of top news as of 12.03.2020:
· The total number of coronavirus cases in Armenia has reached 4; another three cases have been confirmed. All these patients are hospitalized. One of the three people is a resident of Armenia’s Etchmiadzin.
The country’s health minister Arsen Torosyan noted three out of four patients have no symptoms, the fourth one has pneumonia and fever, and receives symptomatic treatment.
He added classes and social events in Armenia may be canceled.
The minister also told reporters that given the difficult epidemiological situation in Italy, citizens who are due to return on March 15 may be quarantined for two weeks immediately upon arrival in Armenia.
According to the health ministry, to date, 262 coronavirus tests have been conducted in Armenia. And 57 persons have been isolated so far.
As Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan in turn noted, they may stop the campaign for the forthcoming referendum on constitutional amendments amid the latest developments.
· Meanwhile, Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has tweeted that the COVID-19 outbreak is a ‘pandemic.’
According to him, the WHO expects to see the rise of infections and deaths over the next couple of days.
Currently, nearly 130,000 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus. The death toll has reached 4,749, and 68,661 people have recovered globally as of 5.23 pm Yerevan time.
· On March 8, a 23- to a 25-year old woman with pneumonia was transferred to Armenia’s Martuni town MC. On the same day, she was transferred to a Yerevan hospital where she died.
“There was no suspicion of coronavirus, she had intense pneumonia; there was a tumor on her lungs,” Andranik Harutyunyan, director of Martuni medical center, told Armenian News - NEWS.am.
· Seventy-five US Representatives from 23 states have sent a bipartisan Armenian Caucus letter to fund de-mining and rehabilitation services in Artsakh and expand US aid to Armenia.
The letter particularly included: $1.5 million for Artsakh demining and robust funding; $100 million for economic, governance, rule of law, and security aid to Armenia; State Department and USAID lift any official or unofficial restrictions on US travel, communication, or contacts with Artsakh government officials; the suspension of US military aid for Azerbaijan until it has been verified to have ceased all attacks against Armenia and Artsakh.
· The US State Department has issued 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
According to the report on Armenia, “significant human rights issues included: torture; arbitrary detention, although with fewer reports; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary interference with privacy; significant problems with the independence of the judiciary; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex (LGBTI) persons; and use of forced or compulsory child labor.”
Meanwhile, as the report said: “the government took steps to investigate and punish alleged abuses by former and current government officials and law enforcement authorities.”
The report also mentions deaths in the army. It is noted that human rights NGOs voiced concern regarding the Defense Ministry’s classification of military deaths and the practice of qualifying many noncombat deaths as suicides, making it less likely that abuses would be uncovered and investigated.
