Armenia 

On 9 April, the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the Armenian government has so far provided state assistance in the amount of 3.67 billion drams under anti-crisis programs. The country's Vice-Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan added that the 8th, 9th and 10th government programs to overcome the adverse consequences of COVID 19 are planned to launch on 13 April.

The eighth program includes the largest number of beneficiaries - exceeding 100 thousand. Beneficiaries can only be persons who are officially registered employees of private enterprises in such areas as hotels and hostels, catering, tourism, hairdressing and beauty salons, as well as retail trade services. The goal of the ninth program is to provide a cushion for families. The beneficiaries of the program will be families in which there are children under 18 years and one of several conditions is met. This is a lump-sum assistance of 26.5 thousand drams (about $ 52.4) for each child. Support is provided to one of the parents.

The chairman of the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition Gegham Gevorgyan said that prices of some goods on the Armenian market have slightly dropped. In particular, the prices of sugar and butter have dropped. Also, the price of regular petrol on fell to 310 drams per liter, to 330 drams for premium petrol and to 370 drams per liter of diesel fuel, down from 450 drams, 470 drams and 460 drams respectively from the same time span in 2018.  

The Armenian government also approved the bill for ratifying the protocol on amendments to the agreement on Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union. Under the protocol, customs privileges granted to Armenia will be extended until January 2021. It was guessed that after protocol enters into force, the prices of as many as 600 foods and industrial products, will decrease by an average of 3%. The list of goods includes meat, oil, sunflower oil, rice, margarine, raw tobacco, fertilizers, a number of medical goods, recycled leather, precious stones and others.

It was also reported that the European Union will provide overall €92 million to Armenia to support immediate and short-term needs in combating COVID 19 and further restructuring of the government’s existing programs. 

The current tally of infected persons in Armenia stands at 921, with 10 reported deaths.

Azerbaijan

On 9 April, the Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers narrowed the circle of people who are allowed to go to work under special permits in connection with the quarantine regime. This right will not cover workers who operate without labor contracts or service contracts and employees over 65 years of age.

A day earlier, representatives of the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers expressed concern about the increase in the number of people infected with Covid-19 in Azerbaijan. In their opinion, the reason for this is not compliance with the quarantine regime. They warned that if violations continue, the quarantine will be tightened. 8 April saw a large increase in the number of people infected in one day, 105. 

The head of the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers, Ibrahim Mammadov, did not rule out extending the special quarantine regime. “It will depend on the development of the situation. The regime can be extended if the number of infected people grows, and violations of the regime continue. Quarantine can not only be extended, but even toughened,” he said. According to him, state and private organizations abuse the right to issue work permits. Among the violators, he called the press.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on additional measures to strengthen the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The document provided for the construction of six modular hospitals with 200 beds each.14.8 million manats (about 9 million dollars) will be allocated from the state budget to finance these measures.

Aliyev also signed an order to allocate funds for the purchase of necessary medical equipment and other medical supplies within the framework of health measures implemented in the Republic of Azerbaijan. According to the order, 97 million manats were allocated to the State Agency for Compulsory Medical Insurance from the reserve fund of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. This fund was envisaged in the state budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2020 for the purchase of necessary medical equipment and other medical supplies to limit the spread of the coronavirus and to strengthen the fight against it.

It was also reported that the European Union allocated €14 million to Azerbaijan to fight against coronavirus.

The current tally of infected persons in the country stands at 926, with 9 reported deaths.

Georgia

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia stated he does not rule out an extension of the state of emergency in the country. The PM has also not ruled out tightening the measures implemented within the emergency regime. He added that the government would make a decision on tightening the state of emergency in Lentekhi, where yesterday a middle-aged man tested positive for coronavirus. 

“We are waiting for the results of the final tests from the Lentekhi cluster. However, it should be noted that the number of regional clusters in the country is growing. This should be taken into account. We should also take into consideration that we may make a decision on tightening the measures in the whole country and not in some regions because we have serious clusters in Kobuleti, Marneuli and Bolnisi, now Lentekhi has appeared, as well as there being several cases in Samegrelo and Batumi. Let's see what the results will be by the end of the day,” Gakharia said.

The representatives of international financial organisations (Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Union and the European Investment Bank, the Federal Republic of Germany through KfW, the French Republic through the Agence française de Développement, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank Group) operating in Georgia and representatives of the diplomatic corps have sent a joint open letter to the Georgian government and Georgian people. The letter praises the country's resilient response to the coronavirus pandemic. The European Union also announced a €183 million aid package for the country in order to combat the spread of Covid-19. 

The head of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili transferred 100 million lari (about $32 million USD) to the StopCov Fund. The Fund has accumulated 124, 543, 899 lari ($39,104,789) so far.

The Georgian government is working with think-tanks in the country to develop a plan for the economic recovery of the country. So far, the planned measures emphasize subsidising utility bills for citizens and deferring property and income tax payments for business.

The current tally of infected persons in Georgia stands at 214, with 3 reported deaths.