“The hybrid war of spreading false information about the coronavirus continues,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during the session of government regarding the situation surrounding the coronavirus in Armenia. He noted that people are not following the rules; they are not maintaining proper distancing in lines at banks or stores, as well as other examples.
According to the Prime Minister, “I see that people post on social media about how the government is using the coronavirus as an opportunity to tell people not to kiss one another and this is how we intend to eradicate our national identity. Since when has greeting each other with a kiss become a part of our national consciousness? Did Yeghishe Charents and Hovhannes Tumanyan greet each other that way? Or Martiros Saryan and Avetik Isahakyan? I do not possess such historical knowledge. It seems that our next mistake is that we stopped regulating information that is being spread as part of the state of emergency. This also gave people the opportunity to say that we are violating human rights. We’re not violating anyone’s rights now and people can say whatever they want to. Some people are saying that the coronavirus is fake, others are saying that we are putting microchips in people, and others are saying even more absurd things, such as that there is no one being quarantined in hotels because some of them are hosting Masonic conferences, others are hosting gay conferences, others anti-Armenian conferences, and others pro-Turkish conferences. In other words, they think that the government has forgotten about all its other duties and is organizing conferences in hotels. This is an issue that we are facing.”
According to the Prime Minister, there is some bad news as well, which is that people refused to wear masks after getting fined as an act of protest. Now, those same people are becoming infected with the coronavirus. “Every day, the coronavirus is spreading in waves among those who were spreading such news. I cannot provide medical information, but some people are talking about it publicly, and others aren’t. They do not want to admit that they got the virus. But we know that they were once saying that there is no such thing as the coronavirus. Some of them are now in the hospital and others are waiting to be hospitalized. They call us and ask if they are not being hospitalized because they are a part of the opposition. Others are secretly being hospitalized while not informing those around them that they have the virus. And so forth.”
Nelly Babayan
