Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Facebook that the main task of the government is to avoid deaths rather than to prevent Coronavirus.

It should be noted that Pashinyan announced four more infections shortly before. Thus, in total, there are 194 infected persons in Armenia.

He noted that there are two directions of government action; “We have 9 patients over the age of 65, three out of 70, we don’t have more than 80 patients, which means we are not at risk. As of 22 March, 14 of those infected with coronavirus in the country have pneumonia, and 6 of them need intensive care. Coronavirus is especially dangerous for people over the age of 75, and pensioners should not be allowed to use the postal service,” he said.

He pointed out that the countries that are able to make long-term strategic decisions to ensure the further development of the economy will come out stronger from this situation. The government has decided to provide broad support to the economy and the entrepreneur, which in turn will be beneficial to other people as well.

“We are already preparing preferential loan packages for companies that will need support to pay their employees’ salaries, pay taxes, import raw materials and organize production. The government has decided to take a 30-60% stake in the financing process and subsidize loans so that businesses do not have to pay extra,” Pashinyan attached importance, especially to investments in agriculture. He noted that the executive will support individuals who participate in the development of the sector through the proposed agricultural programs. In this case, the government will revoke all credit interest and will undertake financing of up to 30% in case of individuals.

“Citizens with a bad credit history who want to participate in agricultural projects can form rural cooperatives in their communities, in which case the government can have a 50-70% participation,” the Prime Minister said.

Pashinyan said that 140 of our citizens have arrived in Armenia from Russia through Georgia, despite Russian and Georgian bans. He advised those in the Russian Federation to use only air transport to come to Armenia. The Prime Minister says that there is or will not be a country in the world that can avoid coronavirus.

“There is no country that can declare that it is ready for coronavirus and knows how to cure it. Our major task in addition to preventing the spread of coronavirus, but also to ensure that we do not have deaths or have minimal deaths, the Prime Minister said.

He also noted that due to coronavirus both in the world and in Armenia there may be employees who will lose their jobs. The Government is developing plans for these cases.

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