2020 April 2

Anti-Corruption Daily

Apr/2/2020 -- Today's News Wrap-Up // What's happening in Armenia? // Coronavirus situation & Important message // Ministry goes after a judge // HHK MP under investigation // and a lot more...
by ar_david_hh

Disclaimer: All the accused are innocent until proven guilty by the court of law, even if they may sound as being guilty. Currency in Armenian Drams ֏ unless specified otherwise.

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US-Armenian doctor about COVID / Chloroquine's potential dangers to Mediterranean people

Full interview: https://m.facebook.com/drghealth.net/videos/700824860657523/?refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2Fstory.php&_rdr

Dr. G Health travels around and works with COVID patients. He gave an interview to Horizon:

It's a new virus with symptoms disguised as common flu. Spreads very fast and overloads hospitals. You go from 1 severe patient to 50 in no time.

Many elderly will die if we don't take it seriously enough. It can strike any age group.

Wash your hands after touching commonly touched areas. Stay home for a few weeks. Disinfect areas where people gather. Avoid visiting friends or family. Keep 6ft away from people. If people ignore this advice, the hospital system will blow up.

81% have no symptom and 14% have it mild. They don't need specific meds. Tylenol is commonly used because Ipubrofen was found to be potentially dangerous, but now it appears Ibuprofen could be OK to use.

Two *experimental *drugs are being tested. One will be used on patients who haven't signed up for it but are in a near-death condition.

Hydroxychloroquine does show positive signs under lab conditions, but it is yet to show effectiveness en masse. It's a dangerous drug. The Mediterranean ethnicities commonly lack G6PD genes. If that's the case, the person could die after taking Hydroxychloroquine. If your symptoms are mild, it is best to use Tylenol.

There are vitamin inhibitors that are given in large quantities to potentially boost the immune system, but they don't really help against COVID.

The most important thing a COVID-suspect can do is to stay home and call the doctor. Stay in your room. Wear a mask at home. Have a separate dining area. The relatives must keep an eye if the symptoms worsen and call doctors if needed.

Don't fall for cure scam sales. Exercise at home and eat healthy to stay healthy, but for COVID you still need to 1) Wash hands 2) Stay away from others 3) Disinfect.

Watch full interview: https://m.facebook.com/drghealth.net/videos/700824860657523/?refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2Fstory.php&_rdr

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/85552

էս ինչ փորձանք եկավ մեր գլխին

663 confirmed (+92). 33 healed (+2). Deaths 6 (+2). The two new elderly deceased patients had COPD, hypertension and other chronic illnesses. One of them was a foreign citizen.

The vast majority of new detections were already isolated for having prior contact with a confirmed case. or they came from abroad. A few weren't in these groups, which means the govt has to find and isolate their circles.

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/184698

update: opera singer dies a day before COVID test

50yo opera singer Anna Sardaryan was fine 2 weeks ago. On March 30th, an ambulance was called to her residence. She was offered a hospitalization and a COVID test, but she refused, saying she'll visit the hospital the next day. The following day she died from double-pneumonia.

Her sister is feeling sick. Doctors will do a COVID test on her.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184643

https://factor.am/237000.html

Healthcare system prepares more beds across Armenia

9 hospitals and 7 other buildings are currently used to house the infected or suspects. Today the Healthcare Ministry emptied part of the largest St. Gregory Illuminator hospital to use it exclusively for COVID. This will give enough beds for the near future.

Minister Torosyan said:

This bed expansion is something you'd see during a war. Our system is expanding rapidly to be ready for any scenario.

Soon we'll have a lot more healed people because their quarantine period ends and they'll be tested. Today's large number of new cases don't indicate a huge expansion per se; we just did more targeted tests and they were already mostly isolated.

Soon we'll do 1,500 daily tests. We haven't reached peak COVID yet. At some point, we'll see a clear decline in daily cases.

It's not practical to test every resident. They could test negative today but catch COVID tomorrow. We can't test the person every day. Testing is done when the doctor deems the person risky.

Pashinyan said:

We had a big jump in COVID cases because we increased testing, and this is the right approach. 80% didn't have any symptoms. Normally they'd be asked to go home and isolate. The population is too mehhh-y right now, and it might be because we were too relaxed in the beginning. You gotta take COVID more seriously, folks.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184623

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184630

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184632

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184645

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184650

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184654

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184653

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184657

https://factor.am/237019.html

https://youtu.be/F8WtuvMHjO8

VIDEO of how the COVID hospital expands in 10 days

It looks like they collected those illegal budkas and put them together for good use.

https://www.facebook.com/ATorosyanOfficial/videos/828641934326285/

Dollar rising, and so do some food prices / MoM up / YoY down

The $ rose 5.4% against Dram since COVID. The Economic Competition Committee examined dozens of food product prices in the Artsakh Republic. Month-to-month and Year-over-Year prices were compared.

12 products got more expensive, some due to supply and demand. 4 cheaper. 27 the same.

April vs March: Masks +500%, Lentil and onion +53%, lemon +36%, cucumber +23%, egg +14%, buckwheat +12%, sugar +7%, tomato +3%, tea +3%. Fuel prices -15%, Pork -3%.

Year over Year: the reverse was true. At the moment the prices are below the 2019 values. For example, eggs are -19%.

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/184695

govt changes its mind, will help grey workers / 9th aid bill

Pashinyan: we got lots of letters from people asking for help because they lost their real job but officially aren't qualified as "laid off". Today we're passing the 9th aid package to help them.

So far, 4 bills for businesses and 5 for the general population.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184635

govt approves aid bill for army food preparation businesses

COVID has caused financial problems for 5 private firms that began delivering high-quality food for soldiers since 2019.

Today the govt approved a bill to pay these firms ahead of time, so they can do their work now, as long as they provide bank-guarantees that the "debt" will be repaid.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1010953.html

govt approves aid package for children

Families where parents didn't have a registered job in the 2QMarch and don't qualify for other aid, will receive 26k for each child.

Must reside in Armenia to qualify. Disqualified if a parent used to earn >500k/mo pre-COVID.

Labor Minister Batoyan said: We had to choose between providing large aid to fewer people, or smaller aid to more people. We chose the latter in this case.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184634

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/184679

when can citizens get COVID aid?

Beginning on April 10th, people can visit online.ssa.am and pick the type of aid they want to apply for, and do it online.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184615

students ask for tuition subsidy

Yerevan State University's student union sent a letter to Pashinyan asking to subsidize 25% of tuition fees because many students are facing hardship due to COVID. "The university allowed non-paying students to attend classes for now, but that's not enough long-term."

https://news.am/arm/news/570132.html

greeting with flowers

A group of COVID suspects graduated the multi-week quarantine bootcamp and were greeted with claps and displomas flowers upon the exit.

https://youtu.be/tUh6m8Dbe2M?t=1

a president wants to execute quarantine violators

The president of the Philippines wants to execute those who defy the quarantine order. "What's up with the disrespectful behavior towards doctors?"

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1010975.html

EU to provide $51mln COVID aid

Europe will spend $51mln to help Armenia with medical equipment, training doctors, business aid, aid for people suffered from COVID.

https://factor.am/237152.html

Anniversary of April battles

Today is the 4th anniversary of April battles in Artsakh. Hundreds of Armenian and Azeri soldiers died fighting for hills in north and south of Artsakh.

The President, PM, Serj, and others went to Yerablur to pay tribute.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184617

Armenian trolls hack Azeri websites on the anniversary

Armenian hacker group "Monte Melkonian Cyber Army" defaced 21 Azeri websites on the anniversary of April battles. Some tourism and other sites began displaying photos of soldiers who died during battles.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1011004.html

http://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/279796/

Artsakh elections

Pashinyan: I welcome the quality of elections. Big competition. Democratic developments in Artsakh are important for the regional security

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184625

former HHK MP under felony investigation / USA properties

Remember the March 1st story by Hetq about how former HHK MP and boxer Arthur Gevorgyan bought houses, registered businesses and allegedly broke the law by not disclosing them in Armenia?

Prosecutors launched a felony investigation. He is charged with 2 counts: illegal enrichment by an official whose income doesn't reflect the things he purchased, and hiding data he was required to disclose.

A few years ago the MP was confronted about this. At the time, he said he accumulated lots of money from his boxing career, but he denied the property ownership, until he was exposed again in 2020.

https://hetq.am/hy/article/115457

https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/fc3kkw/mar12020_news_collection_from_armenia_stay/

Justice Minister goes after a judge for letting suspect flee

Thieve-in-law Hayko Astrakhanski was arrested in 2019 and charged with illegal ammo possession. The judge allowed him to leave Armenia for medical reasons. He never returned.

In 2020 the Justice Minister asked the Supreme Court to reprimand the judge. "No evidence was provided showing that the suspect couldn't receive the care in Armenia, yet the judge let him leave."

The Supreme Court examined the case and issued a warning to the judge.

https://factor.am/237128.html

gas price hike / possible scenarios

Gazprom wants to end the gas subsidy for the poor and charge a flat rate for consumers in 5 brackets. Those who consume little gas will get a small discount.

On average, Armenian consumers in those 5 price-brackets would pay $283 instead of $255.

Deputy PM Mher says if they can convince Russia to lower the $165 gas price at the border by $23, that would cancel out the $28 hike for Armenian consumers.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184620 hmmmm 🤔

Azeri LT oil: $16/barrel

Armenian 5yr cognac: $20/liter

🤔 Where is the catch? 🤔

Azeri LT is at a historic low. Lower than 2001's $19.

The Russian Urals oil sells for $10, the lowest since 1999.

Texas oil industry is also hurting really badly.

SAUDIS GONE WILD!

http://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/279776/

govt continues to cut "bloat" / police health camp shut

In February, Pashinyan complained that the govt spends 800mln/year on a police-run clinic used only by police and their families. "The police department should not run a healthcare facility. That's the job of the Healthcare Ministry.... Why should some policemen's children [small number] go to a special hospital but teacher's children not?".

In a similar case, during today's govt session they decided to close the "Arshaluys" health camp run by the police, which was launched in 2005. It'll cut 32 jobs and save 26mln/yr, partially paid by govt.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1010956.html

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/180384

tax waivers for multiple investors

Businessman Michel Serghany got a waiver to produce handbags and clothing accessories. 165mln investments, 15 new jobs, 130k salary. The business is being moved from Lebanon to Armenia due to wars and banking issues.

Alpha-Renaissance manufacturing firm received a tax waiver to invest 592mln in raw materials and equipment. 5 additional jobs with a 150k salary.

Epsilon Invest got a waiver to invest 210mln with 3 extra jobs with 110k salary.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1010985.html

budget revenues rise

Q1 of 2020 vs 2019 the budget revenues +49bln or +16%

2020 vs 2018 it's +60bln or +25%

"Pretty good results pre-COVID, but we'll see worse numbers later this year. Thanks everyone for paying taxes," said PM.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/184627

ooooof look at these babes

Have you ever used a piss-free elevator in Yerevan? Today the city launched an auction to buy 500 new elevators and distribute them to 10 districts. They'll come with an audio guide.

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/184681

Serj Tankian's new clip

SOAD's Tankian, Armenian rapper Misho, and Sebu released a new music clip "Introvert - Call Me Crazy"

https://youtu.be/GRgdau5lSnA

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Link to original report and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/ftscqd/apr22020_todays_news_wrapup_whats_happening_in/