Armenian Government Extends State of Emergency for Another 30 Days, 1036 Coronavirus Cases Reported as of Monday

YEREVAN (Arka) — At an extraordinary meeting on Monday, the government of Armenia decided to extend the state of emergency declared from March 16 to April 14 for another 30 days – May 14, 2020 inclusive.

Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan, speaking about the legality of the decision to extend the state of emergency, said that if the grounds that served as the reason for declaring the state of emergency remain, the government has the right to extend the duration of the state of emergency, maintaining the established procedure.

He said that some changes were made to the decision on the state of emergency. In particular, the restrictions stipulated by the 7th provision of the state of emergency regime were completely removed.

“This provision applies to restrictions on the work of the media in providing information about the epidemic. If our monitoring shows that fake news will be actively disseminated, we will be able to apply this restriction again,” Badasyan said.

He also noted that another amendment stipulates that the Judicial Acts Compulsory Enforcement Service will not apply measures and impose administrative arrest due to non-payment of parking fees and administrative fines of the traffic police for the entire period of the emergency.

At the same time, he added that immediately after the elimination of the state of emergency, all procedures will operate in normal mode.

Another limitation applies to property rights. As the minister explained, a number of aspects are implied according to which voluntary restriction of property rights is possible if this comes from measures related to the use of emergency situations, for example, the placement of patients in any territory.

The decision will be sent to a special parliamentary meeting scheduled for Monday. During the meeting, Tigran Avinyan, vice-premier and commandant for the period of the state of emergency, will present an assessment of the measures taken and their effectiveness and will give forecasts for the future.

As of April 13, there were 1,039 confirmed cases of infection with the coronavirus, 211 cured patients and 14 deaths in Armenia, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention says in its daily report. This means that there are 26 new cases since Sunday’s report.

According to the center, in total, 7,631 tests have shown the coronavirus-negative result. Some 814 are being treated in hospitals now.