Wednesday, April 1 2020 12:35

ArmInfo.Starting from March 1, Armenia has officially become one of the countries having the  cases of infection with coronavirus recorded. A COVID-19 infected 29 -year-old Armenian citizen returned to his homeland from Tehran, who, however, has already recovered today.

After a couple of weeks, the number of infected citizens and people at risk replenished with immigrants from Italy. The main distributor of the virus was the notorious lady from Etchmiadzin, who,  having visited  her son’s betrothal, has  infected almost everyone with whom she communicated in a couple of days. Of course, the matter was not limited to this, and other focuses of infection appeared, and today the number of infected COVID-19 in Armenia has reached 571st.

 

Generally, the country's authorities have taken all necessary legislative and practical measures to curb the spread of coronavirus. Land borders with Iran and Georgia are closed for passengers, the number of flights is halved. While on March 16, the Government introduced a state of emergency in the country for a month, and since March 24, the regime was further tightened and for now has been extended until April 12. Today, everything is closed in the country except for grocery stores and pharmacies. In general, the actions of the government can be assessed as correct, verified and, by and large, uncontested. You have to choose between the worse and worst scenarios. It is also necessary to state, within the whole, that the country is well prepared for the epidemic.

 

Best of all, the epidemiological situation and the degree of readiness of Armenia to fight against coronavirus is reflected in the Global Health Security Index (GHSI) published in March. In this study, prepared jointly by the Economist intelligence unit and Johns Hopkins University, Armenia ranked first among the EAEU countries in terms of their preparedness to deal with epidemics. In general, Armenia with an index of 50.2 took 44th place in the world. Neighboring Georgia with an index of 52 took 42nd, Turkey with an index of 52.4 - 40th place. Iran with an index of 37.7 took 97th place. The last neighbor of Armenia - Azerbaijan is lagging behind, occupying 117.2 117th place in the world with the index 34.2. Russia with an index of 44.3 in 63rd place. The leaders of the list are the USA, Great Britain and the Netherlands.

 

The information reflected in the GHSI rating looks very relevant after the Chinese authorities officially confirmed on December 31, 2019 that the new type of coronavirus 2019-n is transmitted in a person-to-person way. WHO recognized the outbreak as an emergency of international importance and gave the disease its official name - COVID-19. Coronavirus is featured by symptoms such as a cold, cough, sore throat and a feeling of constriction in the chest, and symptoms similar to pneumonia and bronchitis are observed. At risk are people with weakened immune systems, children and the elder people.

 

As of this moment, the virus has spread from China almost to the whole world. According to the latest data, the number of coronavirus infected in the world has reached almost 860 thousand people and is approaching a million. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 42 thousand people have died and more than 178 thousand people have recovered. The "leaders" in the number of infected people are the United States - 189035 infected, 3900 dead, 7096 recovered. China recorded 82,290 infected, 3,310 people died, 76,206 recovered. In Europe, Italy remains the sad leader - 105,792 infected, 12,428 people dead, 15,729 recovered. The sad statistics of other EU countries look a little better.

Coronavirus has closed all that is possible in the world. Industrial enterprises are idle, various centers are closed, and economic activity is suspended. While the economic situation in Armenia is no exception. The government, judging by recent statements, is well aware of the complexity of the situation. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has already announced the amount of money that the state is sending to overcome the crisis - 150 billion drams. Another 25 billion will be directed to support the business through its soft loans. About 30 billion drams will be allocated for social support of the population. The situation is characterized by utter uncertainty; an idle economy is embraced by the coronavirus, both literally and figuratively. At the same time, the value of one US dollar has already jumped over the psychological mark of 500 drams.

 

As we see, a month after the appearance of coronavirus in Armenia, the pace of its spread is still far from reaching a peak. In this regard, the commandant’s office coordinating the state of emergency gradually tightens it in order to limit the movement of citizens to the maximum. Starting at 23:59 on April 1, the Police and the National Security Service of Armenia will establish checkpoints to control the movement of cars and people, ”said Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan in a new order of the commandant of the state of emergency. Public transport will stop working. Moving by taxi and personal cars will be allowed only for travel to work, subject to availability of an identity card and a certificate from the employer. The exception is the transportation of company employees, including official vehicles. For the first time since the founding of the Karen Demirchyan Yerevan subway in 1981, the decision of the commandant's office suspended its work until April 12. Thus, all other citizens are actually allowed to go only for food and medicine.

 

But not all government measures get the  public support. On April 1, Armenian President Armen Sargsyan signed the bill passed on March 31 by the Parliament on amendments to the law "On the legal regime of emergency" and "On electronic communication". The bill provides enhanced control measures for the movement of citizens in order to limit the spread of coronavirus. In fact, citizens will be forced to download to their phones a program that the government will approve and which will allow us to collect information about our movements in a single database. According to the authors of the bill, all collected information will be deleted at the end of the emergency mode, and the contents of telephone conversations will not be recorded at all. For those who refuse to download this program, or who do not have smartphones, the government promises “adequate controls.”

 

Unlike all previous coronavirus-related  government initiatives, this law has fiercely criticized both the parliamentary and extra-parliamentary opposition and a number of human rights defenders. The latter saw in it an opportunity for the authorities to “quietly” significantly strengthen control over society and, of course, over the opposition. As a result, taking advantage of the absence of some deputies of the “My Step” ruling bloc, colleagues from Prosperous Armenia and Enlightened Armenia failed to vote on these bills. However, this did not prevent “My Step” from gathering almost in full force in just a couple of hours and passing the bill alone, without “enlightened” and “prosperous” ones. It seems that the speed of adoption of the entire chain of these decisions, at least, indicates the importance of the telephone control program, if not for society, then for the authorities for sure.

 

In any case, the law is quite controversial, however, it seems that ranting on the topic of human rights is better to postpone until better times. For example, when the infection will remain only in our memory. In general, government measures to counter COVID-19 seem necessary and therefore reasonable. Nevertheless, until better times, the election of the governor, sorry, the President of Artsakh should be postponed. Based on the same main goal - to overcome the spread of coronavirus. Actually, even the candidates themselves vainly called for this, more precisely, a good half of them. But Artsakh President Bako Sahakyan and the Armenian leadership answered all these calls in silence. The elections were held with all the accompanying coronavirus risks, including crowds of people in the precincts, as well as the visit of hundreds of people from infected Armenia to non-infected Artsakh. Moreover, apparently, in two weeks, the second round of these elections will be held in Artsakh, if, of course, the coronavirus allows.

In this light, the behavior of the Armenian authorities, and yes, especially Armenia, is very little different from the behavior of old people playing backgammon in Yerevan arbours, citizens “breathing fresh air” and “walking dogs”. Parents sending their own children to play outside, etc., etc. Fortunately, judging by half-empty streets, this conscious part of society, nevertheless, constitutes the majority, goes towards the government, meekly agreeing to more and more restrictions. Until the installation of applications on smartphones. Agrees, understanding all the risks, the acuteness of the problem faced by the whole world.

Agrees, not wanting to be among the future patients, for whom already today in the CCM them. Demirchyan ready iron bunks. But he does not agree to the selective nature of restrictions, he does not agree to meet the political preferences of the authorities, whatever those preferences are. In this light, the government of Armenia and personally Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan should be clearly aware of all the possible consequences of the elections in Artsakh. For all of us, and especially for ourselves personally. Responsibility for the new coronavirus outbreak in Artsakh will not be borne by the “governor” Bako Sahakyan and certainly not Araik Harutyunyan, who is not striving to become one. Responsibility will be borne by Nikol Pashinyan. Although, mayhap it will blow over.