ALMATY, Kazakhstan – Confusion reigns in Central Asia after the World Health Organization concluded a project in Turkmenistan recommending that the government trigger “measures as if COVID-19 circulated”. No cases have been officially detected to date, while the outbreak of infections sends neighboring countries back to blockades.
The WHO mission, long sent to assess the extent to which Turkmenistan is ready to deal with COVID-19, arrived in the country on 6 July. which has detected cases of coronavirus. However, speaking in the capital Ashgabat at the end of the 10-day visit, he suggested that Turkmenistan behave in terms of public fitness as if the coronavirus were present; Thoroughly investigate cases of acute respiratory infections; and accentuate evidence for suspected COVID-19 cases.
According to Turkmenistan’s government, it is one of 12 countries that have lost coronavirus, along with North Korea and some remote pacific island states. Turkmenistan borders COVID-19 hotspots in Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
When the pandemic hit the rest of the region in March, Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who also has the name Arkadag, “the protector,” warned that burning the harmala, a medicinal herb, would be enough to prevent the virus from settling down. . Turkmenistan.
At the beginning of the WHO visit, Ashgabat’s message began to change. People have been suggested to wear street masks as a precautionary measure against a supposed increase in harmful dust debris in the air. Restrictions have been imposed on mass meetings and the opening of markets and shops.
While Turkmenistan’s government adheres to its history of 0 infections, reports from the interior of the country tell another story. The U.S. embassy in Turkmenistan said on July 9 that it had “received reports from local citizens with coVID-1nine symptoms undergoing COVID-1nine tests and quarantined.”
Saglyk, which provides Turkmen data on physical fitness issues, expressed fears in June that “unconfirmed reports of patients diagnosed with ‘atypical pneumonia’ in Ashgabat” were in fact cases of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, neighbouring Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are facing an increase in COVID-19 cases. Central Asia has also seen a massive increase in pneumonia cases since the onset of the pandemic. Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Health reported a 300% year-on-year increase in cases in June, from 7,964 to 32,724. The accumulation of deaths increased by 129% to 628 out of 274.
On July 9, the Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan launched itself in the threat of pneumonia, warning its citizens about the spread of a harmful and unidentified form of the disease in the country, first calling it “Kazakhstan pneumonia” on its WeChat channel. The newsroom was replaced by “non-COVID pneumonia,” but not before the story went viral in the world’s media.
Kazakhstan, which borders China and is the leading best friend and trading partner, called the allegations of misguided data. “The data published through some Chinese media related to a new type of pneumonia in Kazakhstan is incorrect,” the government said.
WHO supported this position and said the outbreak in Kazakhstan is likely to be a coronavirus, and WHO Executive Director of Health Emergencies Michael Ryan speculated that cases “have simply not been correctly diagnosed.”
Since its first blockade in mid-May, Kazakhstan’s fitness formula has been under increasing pressure, and cases of coronavirus have increased 12 times. By the end of this week, more than 65,000 cases were reported, with 375 deaths recorded. Hospitals are suffering to cope, in addition to the increase in cases of pneumonia.
After, first, containing the spread of coronavirus, an ineffective combination of communication and the lack of application of preventive measures combined to increase infection rates in Kazakhstan.
“At first, we didn’t see many cases, other people didn’t have this virus,” Gaukhar Mergenova, a public fitness expert at Columbia University’s Center for Central Asian Global Health Research in Kazakhstan, said at a recent webinar at Carnegie Endowment. Array “People didn’t stick to recommendations related to masking, social distance, all this was not fulfilled,” he added.
A June vote through Gallup International and Russian studies organization Romir found that 61% of respondents in Kazakhstan thought the dangers of a pandemic were exaggerated, at the time of the 19 countries studied.
But with infections expanding to more than 1,500 per day, Kazakhstan returned to a partial blockade for a month on July 5. Markets, cinemas and gyms are closed, but the terraces of bars and restaurants remain open. Transport links between regions are ongoing, but mass occasions such as weddings and anniversaries, a key factor in the increasing infection rate, are prohibited.
There are signs that the government of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, is beginning to take on the problem of messaging belatedly. Billboards began to appear on the streets advising others to wear masks, and cell phone operators also began sending TEXT messages with the same advice. A $200 fine is imposed to enforce the measures.
Turkmenistan also takes the mask seriously. On Wednesday, Arkadag showed himself on television dressed in a mask in public for the first time as he fished and watched birds from a social distance during his vacation.
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