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Armenian PM justifies public shaming 

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been posting photos on his Facebook page of people violating safety regulations for the past two days and has called on others to do the same.

Pashinyan went live this morning to explain his motives. According to the Prime Minister, his aim is not to blame people but instead for everyone to acknowledge the serious situation the country is in. 

‘The issue is not about calling out people who are guilty, the issue is about our parents, about the country’s national security,’ he said. He went on to say that by following the safety regulations put in place, 95% of infections can be prevented.

According to Pashinyan, the biggest issue is with the banking system [where large queues have been forming daily] and he has spoken with the President of the Central Bank and the Ministry of High-Tech Industry to address the problem.

Ban on train travel to continue in Georgia despite inter-city transportation reopening

The ban on transportation via trains is to continue indefinitely in Georgia despite inter-city transportation coming back on 8 June. 

According to a new ruling by the Georgian government, the ban on rail transportation and domestic flights will continue — chartered flights will be allowed on a case by case basis. 

The ban was initially introduced on 31 March, several days after the Georgian government announced the state of emergency.

Georgian officials allowed public transport to begin operating again from 29 May.

Karachay-Cherkessia launches criminal case in connection with unpaid bonuses for medical workers

The Investigative Department of Karachay-Cherkessia has launched a criminal case in connection with appeals by doctors about the failure to pay them the promised premiums for working with COVID-19 patients, insufficient provision of personal protective equipment and other issues.

Earlier, the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, sent a group of officers from the Central office of the Main Investigative Department with an order to identify all cases of violations in the region.

Names of COVID-19 deceased in Armenia leaked

On 2 June, the full names and birth dates of 132 people who had died of COVID-19 in Armenia were leaked and published by several media outlets.

The Ministry of Health has confirmed the leak and has called on law enforcement to investigate the source of the leak. ‘This is a breach of human rights, something which is totally unacceptable,’ the Ministry said in a statement.

Gor Abrahamyan, an advisor to the country’s Prosecutor General, told Armtimes that an investigation has been launched.

North Ossetian authorities confirm call for medical workers to receive unpaid bonuses

The Prosecutor's Office of North Ossetia has demanded that medical workers of the Catastrophe Medicine Centre of the region receive the premiums promised to them for working with coronavirus patients. 

Abkhazia: no more confirmed active cases

Abkhazia's anti-coronavirus task force has announced that as of Tuesday, there were no more known active COVID-19 cases in the region. The last three had been discharged from Gudauta hospital earlier that day.

According to local officials, 27 patients had recovered in total and 1 died. 

This is not the first time Abkhazia has reported 0 active cases. They previously declared no active cases on 26 April. The virus reemerged in early May. 

For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.

Armenia confirms case of child with Kawasaki Syndrome and COVID-19

Armenia’s Health Minister Arsen Torosyan announced today that a 4-year-old child has been diagnosed with Kawasaki Syndrome. The child had previously tested positive for COVID-19. The child’s condition is critical but stable.

Torosyan noted that there has been an increase in Kawasaki Syndrome diagnosed in children with COVID-19  around the world, which some researchers believe is connected with the novel coronavirus. 

The cause of the syndrome is not fully understood but it is mainly associated with autoimmune response to infectious diseases. 

Kawasaki syndrome is most common among children under 5 years old. 

Torosyan said that the Ministry had already acquired immunoglobulin drugs specifically for the treatment of the rare disease.

515 new cases recorded in Armenia

515 new cases of novel coronavirus were recorded in Armenia over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of identified cases to 10,524.  There were only 27 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

According to Armenia’s National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, analysis of the epidemiological situation in March and April has shown that the number of confirmed cases has almost tripled within a span of one month. 

Among South Caucasus countries, the virus has spread the most widely in Armenia. Azerbaijan and Georgia have 5935 and 800 confirmed cases, respectively.

On June 1, Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan announced that he and his family tested positive for COVID-19. They are self-isolating in the Prime Minister’s residence.

As of 3 June, 3454 patients have recovered and 229 have died.

Summary

Welcome to OC Media’s coronavirus live updates for Wednesday, 3 June. We will be bringing you the latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic from around the Caucasus.

The biggest developments from yesterday: 

According to Amiran Gamkrelidze, Director of Georgia's National Centre for Disease Control, Georgia plans to accept tourists from so-called 'green zones' where epidemiological situations have improved. Gamkrelidze mentioned Armenia as an example of a country not safe to open travel with. He characterised the situation in all four countries neighbouring Georgia as 'grave'.

The Georgian government is currently targeting potential tourists from Israel, Austria, Germany, Czechia, Greece and the Baltic states. Last year, 71.4% of foreign tourists visiting Georgia were from Azerbaijan (19.7%), Russia (19%), Armenia (17.6%), and Turkey (14.9%). 

Georgian authorities have indicated previously that they would expect any foreign tourist to have tested negative for COVID-19 within the previous 72 hours upon entering Georgia regardless of country of origin. 

Teymuraz Akhokhov, the mayor of  Kabardino-Balkaria’s capital of Nalchik, has tested positive for COVID-19, Interfax-Yug reports, citing the city administration. According to Interfax-Yug, Akhokhov has only mild symptoms and is currently in isolation. The city administration continues to operate normally.

According to Armenia’s Special Commission on the State of Emergency, the country’s Centre for Molecular Biology sent the first batch of 350 locally produced COVID-19 tests to the National Centre for Disease Prevention and Control yesterday. 

The Centre for Molecular Biology will be capable of producing 3,000-5,000 tests daily, which, according to the Special Commission, is enough to cover Armenia’s needs. 

Read the latest stories:

• Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and family test positive for COVID-19
• Armenian COVID-19 ‘fake news’ site was funded by US
• ‘A lost year’ — How the global pandemic has hit Azerbaijan’s economy
• COVID-19 outbreak in Daghestan ‘significantly understated’
• Armenia continues to reopen despite steady growth in new cases of COVID-19
• New law allows Georgian government to restrict rights without declaring state of emergency
• WHO recommendations ‘widely disregarded’ in South Ossetia’s Akhalgori
• Man disappears in Grozny after returning to be with family during pandemic
• Georgian Health Ministry cancels contract for ‘Dutch-made’ tests that were made in China
• Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh ‘vulnerable to COVID-19 pandemic’
• Georgia plans corona-safe ‘tourist zones’
• Critical shortages‘ of protective equipment reported in Daghestan’s hospitals
• Transgender woman sets herself on fire in Tbilisi
• Voice | The women on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Police clash with anti-stay-at-home protesters in North Ossetia