The National Assembly on Wednesday, September 16 approved that an investigative committee probing the government's handling of the coronavirus epidemic will have 12 members.

The move comes after opposition parties Bright Armenia and Prosperous Armenia requested the creation of such a committee in July.

Parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan said back in July that the special committee is being established at the request of at least one fourth of the total number of the deputies and is set "to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, to have effective measures carried out by the government and the Commandant’s Office for mitigating or eliminating the consequences of the fight against that virus, as well as to study the efficiency and the lawfulness of the restrictions of the human rights and fundamental freedoms during the period of the state of emergency."

The members of the new committee will be identified later.

The number of confirmed coronavirus infections in Armenia grew by 257 to reach 46,376 on Wednesday․ So far, 42,069 people have recovered, 923 have died from the coronavirus in the country, while 283 others carrying the virus have died from other causes.