Epress.am News from Armenia
As of 10։00, March 22, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports of 190 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Armenia, with 2 patients cured and clear of the virus and no deaths. For the past two days, the number of cases is increasing by around 25 each day. The government has isolated over 600 persons that have been in contact with confirmed cases. The majority of cases are related to outbreaks in Etchmiatsin and a manufacturing enterprise in Shengavit district of Yerevan.
In a Facebook address on March 20, Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan said that 14 with pneumonia, 6 in intensive care unit. “None of them faces life threats, intensive care doctors oversee the three patients around the clock, the other patients with non-severe pneumonia are cared for by doctors as is medically instructed.”
It is also reported that coronavirus patients are no longer hospitalized in the specialized Nork Infectious Disease Hospital, but in 5 hospitals of Yerevan, and two additional ones in the regions of Armenia. New decisions are to be made whether patients with mild coronavirus symptoms will be hospitalized or kept in quarantine. It was earlier reported that one of the nurses of Nork Infectious Diseases Hospital contracted the virus during her work.
Health Minister Torosyan also said that the government will soon be unable to isolate all persons who are suspected of the virus and are potentially in the incubation period, as over 600 people are placed at various facilities for isolation. Soon, decisions may be taken to mandate self-isolation.
The Ministry of Justice has haphazardly drafted a bill maintaining sanctions for persons who refuse forced quarantine or self-isolation which was discussed and adopted in a first hearing by the Parliament. Such refusal can be punished by a fine between 300.000 and 500.000 AMD. If the denial of forced isolation or self-isolation negligeably results in mass morbidity, the sanction can range from detention for 3 months to arrest for 5 years. The changes will have to be incorporated in the Codes for Criminal and Legal Offenses.
Sanctions are also foreseen for violation of freedom of speech restrictions during the Sate of Exception. It was earlier declared that media outlets and individuals are banned from reporting news differing from the state-confirmed information, including foreign news and information invoking public panic. These provisions were written in the law on declaring a state of exception on March 14. Due to a public outcry over excessive and unnecessary restrictions, the restrictions were changed to allow for foreign news reporting on the condition they are based on official foreign sources and have a clear reference.
Public criticism still continues to be expressed in relation to these restrictions, it is unclear how the State of Exception office is interpreting the word “panic” and what resources will be put in place to enforce these restrictions, given that they also apply to individuals who make public statements in social media.
These questions will be further elaborated on during the second parliamentary hearing over sanctions during the State of Exception on Monday, March 23.