There are hotels where coronavirus patients and those in quarantine are staying. The garbage from those hotels is taken away daily in special trucks. Then, it is taken to a landfill and destroyed. The deputy mayor of Yerevan, Hrachya Sargsyan, spoke about this on Monday at the government press club.
“I ask that all citizens throw their used masks and gloves in polyethylene bags and then throw them away. We plan to wash all dumpsters and garbage cans. Garbage trucks are also being washed prior to leaving the landfill. I ask that we all work to keep Yerevan clean,” Sargsyan said.
He also said that having separate garbage cans throughout Armenia designated for the disposal of gloves and masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus will not produce any results.
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In accordance with the State of Emergency Command’s decision, public transportation began to operate on Monday. Having standing passengers is forbidden. Regarding this, Sargsyan said that they are trying to understand the number of passengers there will be. According to the State of Emergency Command’s decision, 150 transportation units and private modes of transportation were removed from service. “Overall, the number of passengers will decrease by 30 percent over these next few months, taking into consideration the fact that schools and universities will remain closed. Over the next few days, we will begin to understand the numbers of passengers, which will allow us to carry out the appropriate measures.” According to the deputy mayor, it will become clear over the next two or three days whether or not it is necessary to increase the number of buses.
At the moment, according to the deputy mayor, 95 percent of citizens do not use public transportation because there is no room. There are cases where passengers argue with drivers so that they can ride while standing up due to there being no extra seats. “Buses will not move until standing passengers exit the bus.”
All buses have been provided with boxes meant for coins and sanitary products. “There may be a few cases where buses don’t have them, but all bus drivers have been ordered to have those products available.”
He said that modes of transportation owned by private companies and the municipality will be sanitized on behalf of the municipality. In the past, the municipality was also responsible for this. Regarding the sanitary products and protective supplies, such as gloves and masks, meant for drivers, Sargsyan said that the companies that own the buses are purchasing these products.
No matter how much control the municipality attempts to exert, it is impossible to control 800 minibuses and more than 300 buses. “That is why I ask our citizens to pay attention to other citizens. If other citizens are doing something wrong, they can be informed about how to properly wear a mask, for example. I think that mutual supervision will have a major influence on preventing the spread of the virus so that we can come out of this crisis.”
Nelly Babayan
