COVID-19 Daily Briefing (May 7)

5p.m.

The Artsakh Ministry of Health informs that two more citizens are confirmed to have COVID-19. The two are from the same family and live in the Nor Verinshen village in the Shahumyan region. Contact tracing is underway. Artsakh has registered ten cases of COVID-19, six have already recovered.

4 p.m.

During a press conference, the head of the Yerevan city ambulance service Taguhi Stepanyan said emergency calls have not increased after May 4, when the restrictions on movement and most kinds of economic activity were lifted.There are about 600-650 calls per day, which has been the average since March.

Twelve employees of the ambulance service have tested positive for COVID-19; Stepanyan said none of the 12 have exhibited any symptoms. According to Stepanyan, doctors, nurses and drivers of the service received bonuses last month from an account made available by the Yerevan Municipality in the amounts of 95,000 AMD for doctors, and 75,000 AMD for nurses and drivers. Stepanyan said that, since March, 2233 COVID-19 suspected patients have been transported to hospitals in Yerevan.

12 p.m. 

The government has announced that both Victory Park (dedicated to the victory over Nazi Germany in WWII)  and Yerablur Military Pantheon will be closed to the public on May 9, for cars and pedestrians alike. Disregarding the restriction will be punishable by law.

May 9, which is celebrated in Armenia as Victory in Europe (VE) Day, the anniversary for the Liberation of Shushi, and the anniversary of the establishment of the Artsakh Defence Army, will only be celebrated through official ceremonial events this year. Mass celebrations are postponed.

11 a.m.
The Ministry of Health reported that 102 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Armenia and 50 patients have recovered, bringing the total number of cases to 2,884, of which 1,648 are active cases and 1,185 have already recovered. Two patients, 78 and 66, who had pre-existing health conditions died, bringing the total number of deaths to 42. Two more patients infected with COVID-19 have also died but the virus was not the cause of death. To date, 28,017 tests have been conducted.

11 a.m.

During its cabinet meeting, the Government discussed and adopted the seventeenth assistance package aimed at mitigating the consequences of COVID-19. While presenting the package, Hakob Arshakyan, the Minister of High Technologies, said that the goal of the package is to support high-tech business entities affected by the spread of coronavirus, as well as promote the implementation of innovative ideas in the field. The beneficiaries of the package are all those high-tech businesses that satisfy the following requirements:

– comply with the criteria of the Law on State Support in the Sphere of Information Technologies;

– as of the day of submitting the application, do not have unpaid taxes in the past 12 months;

– as of the day of submitting the application, has not received grants from the Ministry of High Technologies in the past 12 months.

Assistance will be provided in the form of grants to those businesses who win the competition announced by the Ministry. Three types of grants will be offered. The first one is an innovative grant, with a maximum amount of 10 million AMD, and for those businesses that have been registered in Armenia during the past two years and created products. The second type of grant, with a maximum amount of 20 million AMD, is for already established businesses that have been registered in Armenia for more than two years and provided services. Businesses applying for this grant should be ready to develop new products. The third one is a co-financing grant and is for those high-tech companies that will attract documented and approved investments to Armenia. The government will provide 100% co-financing but not more than 30 million AMD. Applications will be evaluated by considering the innovative component of the presented programs, compliance with the government’s strategic priorities, feasibility, compliance with the financial requirements, as well as the overall professional potential of entities.