Armenia 

On 30 March, the Armenian government concluded a deal with Georgia and Russia to form a “green zone“ for Armenia-bound EAEU freight, which meant the establishment of a special corridor that will be available through the territory of Georgia and the Upper Lars checkpoint. This follows Russia’s announcement that it was to close all of its border crossings to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus.

In the context of Armenian-Russian economic relations during the coronavirus crisis, Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan stated that he did not rule out a revision of the methodology used to calculate the price of natural gas the country buys from Russia. “Given today's trends, we may initiate a discussion on transition from the fixed price for the natural gas to the floating price (based upon the current market price of energy),” he stated.

The Armenian government also updated its citizens on the policy measures taken in order to combat the negative economic impacts of the crisis. The government decided to pay benefits to enterprises and citizens who suffered the most due to restrictions imposed as part of the state of emergency 

According to Grigoryan, the most affected businesses were hotels and hostels, public catering companies, travel agencies, hairdressing and beauty salons, as well as retail services. He said food, cigarettes, drugs and alcohol selling stores are not in this list. According to him, the beneficiaries of the program will receive support in the form of a lump sum payment. 

In turn, the adviser to the Armenian Prime Minister Narek Sargsyan noted that hired workers affected by the coronavirus will receive payments in the amount of half of their wages for January and February 2020, but not less than 68 thousand drams and not more than twice the minimum wage of 136 thousand drams. He said if their income did not amount to the minimum wage level, then they will be paid half of the amount of income for two months. As for individual entrepreneurs, the amount of their support will be calculated at the rate of 10% of their sales for the fourth quarter of 2019. In this case, the financial support should be no lower than the minimum wage and no more than twice the minimum wage.

As for those who lost their jobs in the period between 13 and 30 March, Armenia’s Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Zaruhi Batoyan said the beneficiaries will be given a lump sum in the amount of minimum monthly salary. According to her, the decision does not apply to citizens whose salaries in the preceding 2 months before their dismissal exceeded 500 thousand drams. She also added that pregnant women whose husbands were dismissed from work or died due to state of emergency will also receive a lump sum in the amount of 100 thousand drams.

The current tally of infected people in the country is at 482, with 3 reported deaths. 

Azerbaijan

The head of the press service for the Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs, colonel  Ehsan Zahidov announced the list of closed places during the imposed special quarantine regime. He noted that barber shops and beauty salons were closed. He added that no restrictions have been imposed on activity of car washing stations, car repair shops, car spare parts stores, construction materials stores, dry cleaning stations, cattle feed shops, and animal supply shops.

The servicemen of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have also been involved in a joint service with police employees in order to enhance and ensure the special quarantine regime.

On 27 March, 200 prisoners were released early in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers to curb the coronavirus pandemic in Azerbaijan. The Head of the Public Relations Department of the Penitentiary Service stated that this process would be continued intensively. 

The speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament Sahiba Gafarova stated that the meeting of committees and commissions of Azerbaijani Parliament are from now on going to  be held online and plenary sessions once the necessary equipment becomes available. 

As part of measures taken by the government to prevent the wide spread of coronavirus infection in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, people are required to be in private houses and apartments, places of permanent or temporary residence, the specified requirement is reflected in additional measures determined by the Task Force under the Cabinet of Ministers to prevent the wide spread of coronavirus infection in the territory of the Azerbaijan Republic, APA reports.

Citizens can leave private houses and apartments in cases of emergency medical care, immediate danger to life and health, visiting retail facilities and services whose activities are permitted, removal of household waste, to perform official duties in organizations operating during the special regime.

In connection with the above, activities in other areas, except for the areas of work and services necessary for the life of citizens, are suspended from 00:00 on March 31, 2020 to 00:00 on April 20, 2020.

The current tally of infected people in the country is at 273, with 4 reported deaths. 

Georgia

The Georgian Prime Minister Girgi Gakharia announced a nationwide curfew starting from 31 March.  He stated that people in several regions have refused to follow the rules which has made it necessary to declare a lockdown around the country. 

The curfew entails the following measures: 1) all public transport, including the metro, will be suspended, 2) private vehicles will only be allowed to travel with a maximum of three people, including the driver, and two must sit in the backseat, 3) only people needed at strategically important locations may be transported in groups in an organised manner, 4) people will not be able to gather in more than groups of three; the ban does not extend to pharmacies and food markets, where people must keep a distance from one another, 5) enterprises will continue to work and they are likely to have their own protocol so as ‘not to fully stop the economy’, 6) people over 70 will be allowed out only if they go to the nearest market, pharmacy or hospital and 7) everyone must carry ID documents with them when going outside.

Prior to the announcement, the Georgian government deployed supplementary police units in the Samegrelo region of the country following the declared state of emergency by the Abkhazian separatist authorities. All of the controls that have been enforced with the declared state of emergency will be coordinated more rigorously in the region.

A new hospital was opened in the village of Rukhi located about a kilometre from Enguri Bridge, which connects Russia-occupied Abkhazia with the rest of Georgia. “Everybody, who will cross the occupation line in need of medical care, will receive the assistance… This is the main function and mission of this powerful medical centre,” stated  Gakharia. 

The Georgian Agriculture Ministry announced that it will spend 16 million GEL ($4.86 million) to ensure sugar, oil and pasta stocks in the country due to the coronavirus outbreak. The government has also created a price restraint mechanism and negotiated with businesses to not increase prices for several products. For that, the government has allocated 10 million GEL ($3 million).

It was also reported that a total of 15,500,000 GEL (about $4.67 million ) had already been accumulated in the StopCov fund by the private entities in the country.

The total tally of infected people in the country is at 98, with no reported deaths.