Armenian gov’t continues to ease state of emergency restrictions – citizens allowed to walk in pairs, but only within 1 km of home house

The Armenian government has decided to ease the quarantine restrictions a third time.

This includes partially removing the restrictions on the movement of citizens. Now people are allowed to go for walks and ride bikes, but only within a kilometer from their house. Members of the same family are now allowed to leave the house together.

But restrictions on public transport in cities and villages remain in effect.

On March 16, the government declared a state of emergency and imposed these stringent restrictions.

On April 14, the commandant’s office allowed some businesses in the processing industry, builders and engineers to return to work.

After that, the number of infections in Armenia increased. And the government began to put several cities in various regions of the country on lockdown.

However, a week later, the commandant’s office expanded the list of businesses that could return to work. Then, it reopened public transportation between regions.

Over the next 10 days, the commandant’s office is expected to continue expanding the list of businesses permitted to go back to work.

The prime minister says that the coronavirus crisis is unpredictable and may drag on for a year or more, and that in the meantime, the government needs to solve some problems and look for ways out of it. Therefore, the restrictions will gradually be removed.

On April 28, the number of coronavirus cases in Armenia increased by 59, bringing the total to 1,867. The total number of patients who have recovered is 866. Since the beginning of the epidemic, there have been 30 people who have died from coronavirus in Armenia, all of whom had concurrent chronic conditions.

The full list of permitted activities

The most recent decision made by the commandant’s office now permits people to:

• take walks outside, ride bikes, and exercise as long as it is within one kilometer from the house,
• members of the same family are allowed to leave the house together, but only two at a time,
• those living in villages can go to shops that are located no further than 1 km away, and for people in cities, the maximum distance is 500 meters.

In any case, citizens are required to carry some form of identification with them, as well as a “travel form” whenever leaving the house. On this form, they must indicate their home address, destination, time at which the they left house, and expected time of return.

The commandant’s office’s decision was, as usual, first announced by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan:

“We will begin lifting of restrictions step by step, and barring any supernatural intervention, all economic restrictions will be lifted within 10 days.”

At the same time, it is specifically stipulated that the restrictions on the field of education will not be lifted – schools and universities will remain closed.

Restrictions which were lifted prior to this decision

The last time restrictions were eased was on April 23, when the government decided to abolish checkpoints along roads in Armenia, and the restriction on free movement between regions was lifted.

Instead, there is now restricted entry and exit in individual cities and villages where major outbreaks of infection have been reported.

Restrictions were also lifted in some industries, namely the printing industry, stone processing, metal fabrication and machine repair. Companies working in and related to the real estate market also resumed operations..

Ten days prior to that decision, the commandant’s office lifted restrictions on the work of processing enterprises, the production of tobacco products, cement, gypsum, lime, and metal structures. Companies that supply parts for these industries were also permitted to resume operations. Almost all construction projects were also removed from the list of temporarily prohibited activities.

Even then, the commandant said that he did not rule out the possibility that even more people would soon be able to return to work.