Cumulative Cases: 1201
Active Cases: 780
Recovered: 402
Deaths: 19
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan Address the Nation
8 p.m.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke to the nation in a live address and spoke about the COVID-19 pandemic. Below is an unofficial translation of that speech:
Since March 16, 2020, there has been a state of emergency (SOE) in Armenia because of the novel coronavirus. The SOE was supposed to end on April 14, but we were compelled to extend it for another month because the crisis has not been overcome by Armenia or the world. As of now, there are 2,181,508 cases of COVID-19 globally, 147,337 have died, 552,264 have recovered. In Armenia, the situation is the following: we have 1,201 confirmed cases, 402 recovered and unfortunately 19 deaths. The average age of our compatriots who have died because of coronavirus is 73.8. All of those who died had serious pre-existing health conditions such as cancer, hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, etc.
As of April 17, we have 780 patients currently in hospital being treated for COVID-19, about 1,700 are in quarantine and 2,647 people are in mandatory self-isolation. Regardless of these alarming numbers, I consider it important to underscore that, thanks to our healthcare system and state governing bodies, the virus continues to remain manageable.
Presently, half of the hospital beds designated for patients with coronavirus are empty.
This is the most important indicator in controlling the pandemic. In many more-developed countries, there were no places in hospitals for people who had contracted coronavirus. At least to this point, we have resisted the pandemic in an honorable way. And I would like to thank the medical staff, who for weeks have stayed away from their families, I applaud you.
I also want to mention that, from the very first day, we have created dignified conditions for people in quarantine. They are in hotel rooms, and provided with food and the necessary medical supervision. Many countries of the world bring Armenia as an example of how to treat citizens at times of crisis. In this time, we have repatriated thousands of Armenian citizens from different countries of the world. This was made possible through state funding as well as the help of local and diasporan organizations and donors. I want to thank all the organizations and individuals who helped. Donors have helped the Special Commission in importing a number of necessities to Armenia.
One other thing that is specific to Armenia during this time of the pandemic is that we did not have empty shelves, not even for a single day, something that happened in many countries of the world. For this reason, I would like to thank not only our businesses but our partners in Georgia, Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran, who made sure to organize Armenia’s imports and exports to the best extent possible. I want to thank all those countries and international organizations that helped Armenia in the fight against the coronavirus.
Dear compatriots, the coronavirus pandemic brought with it a number of social and economic difficulties and the government adopted 13 assistance programs to help the economy and the citizens overcome the crisis.
*The Prime Minister proceeded to describe all 13 assistance programs the government has formulated to mitigate the socioeconomic fallout. For a full list of those programs, follow our COVID-19 Daily Briefings.
The government continues to discuss future assistance programs and will take all the necessary decisions to counter this crisis. It is our goal to make each of the assistance programs as effective as possible and for the assistance to reach its beneficiaries as soon as possible.
I have to also admit that we have received many calls from people who are eligible beneficiaries of these programs but the electronic system has rejected their application. We will review all these cases. But for now, it is also clear that many people are deprived of the right to assistance because of the irresponsibility and sometimes illegal behavior of their employers. We will study all these cases and reach corresponding conclusions.
Regarding our strategy in combating coronavirus, we have to admit that, as long as there is no vaccine, the virus is not going to disappear and we are going to have infected citizens. Therefore, our strategy is as follows: to make sure that the number of infected is as low as possible and manageable for the healthcare system. On the other hand, we cannot stay locked up forever and live under quarantine or a state of emergency forever. Therefore, it is our strategy to live with the virus, parallel to the virus, and we should use the remainder of the state of emergency to learn the necessary skills to do this.
What does this mean in practice? We are allowing the resumption of economic activity in different spheres stage-by-stage but expect a great deal of responsibility from employers who must guarantee special coronavirus measures are in place at factories, at construction sites. Otherwise, instead of loosening the conditions, we will be obliged to make them stricter. Businesses should already have their own anti-coronavirus plans in place for restaurants and cafes that will reopen in the future. And I call on them to use the remaining SOE to solve this problem. This pandemic puts special responsibility on each one of us, everyone must do their utmost to not get infected and not infect others.
The coronavirus pandemic demands new behavioral norms and even new kinds of reflexes. Afterall, different episodes in history have shaped much of our behavior and we are possibly living through a time now that will bring changes to our customs, ways of interaction and daily behavior.
The government’s anti-pandemic efforts have attained their initial results. But this should not diminish our vigilance, on the contrary, we should be even more vigilant in the upcoming weeks of the SOE. If we succeed in doing so, starting May 14, we will be able to step-by-step return to our normal lives. If we fail to adopt new rules of coexistence, the virus can spread with new momentum and leave us all facing a humanitarian disaster. And this is where my motto remains the same: The future of Armenia depends on one person and that person is you.
Situation in Artsakh
5 p.m.
Another case of COVID-19 has been confirmed in Artsakh, bringing the total number of infected to seven. According to the Ministry of Health of the Artsakh Republic, the infected patient has been taken to hospital and officials are now working to isolate everyone they had come into contact with.
