Parliament to allocate nearly $1 Million to COVID-19 prevention measures
Armenia reported its seventh death related to the Coronavirus pandemic, as registered cases soared to 736, with 73 cases reported in just 24 hours, according to data by the National Disease Control and Prevention Center.
Healthcare officials also reported that 43 patients who had been in self-isolation or quarantined had recovered bringing the number of active cases in Armenia to 686 as of Friday.
Health Ministry spokesperson Alina Nikoghosyan late on Thursday reported the death of a 76-year-old female patient who was hospitalized at the Nork Infectious Diseases Clinical Hospital. The patient, who was diagnosed with COVID-19, had pre-existing health issues.
Earlier on Thursday, Nikoghosyan announced the death of a 78-year-old woman who was also at the Nork Hospital. Her pre-existing conditions included diabetes and hypertension, complicating the treatment of the coronavirus. Nikoghosyan said that the woman was not a citizen of Armenia, but did not elaborate on her origins.
On Friday, Armenia’s National Assembly said it will allocate 500 million drams (approximately $1 million) from its annual budget to the state budget. The funds will support measures aimed at the prevention, control and treatment of the COVID-19 epidemic, National Assembly Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan said.
The sum includes funds allocated for the financing of various contracts for the whole year, but not yet signed, financial resources for business trips for the first quarter, but not actually spent, as well as the funds earmarked for the second fiscal quarter of 2020.
The allocation will also include the entire fund for the awarding of 700 employees and deputies, as well as funds provided for energy services and other expenses.
Meanwhile on Friday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited Armenia’s “Engineering City,” accompanied by Defense and High-Tech Industry minister David Tonoyan and Hakob Arshakyan, and became acquainted with efforts by engineers to repair ventilators.
After first being briefed by specialists on solutions and development of military equipment, Pashinyan got a first-hand look at efforts to refurbish ventilators.
Representatives of the Engineering Association of Armenia said that they are currently working on designing artificial respiration devices, developing their complete or partial production, and will submit concrete proposals to the High Technological Industry Ministry. At the same time, they said that specialists successfully had restored devices that were previously in storage.
