61 officially confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) were reported in Tajikistan on Saturday, bringing a total number of officially confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country to 5,399 as of the evening of June 20, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population (MoHSPP).
3,894 COVID-19 patients (+64 people) have reportedly recovered as of the evening of June 20, 2020.
According to a MoHSPP, one COVID-19-related death was reported in Tajikistan on June 20, bringing a total number of COVID-19-linked deaths in the country to 52.
Despite the fact that the number of officially confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country has reached nearly 5,400 we know very few about the coronavirus situation in the country.
Thus, the MoHSPP does not give information about the coronavirus situation in the regional cross section that creates problems to assess the situation. The reliability of official statistics is also in doubt.
Meanwhile, some sources say coronavirus cases have shoot up in the Central Asian region not longer after Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan started to ease coronavirus restrictions.
Since mid-June, Kazakhstan has been reporting around 1,000 new cases every day, according to Radio Liberty.
Just after the middle of June, Kyrgyzstan reportedly started reporting more than 100 cases a day, where earlier the country was reporting, at most, dozens of cases daily.
Uzbekistan reported its first COVID-19 cases in mid-March and by the start of June had registered a total of some 3,600 cases, but by June 19 that number had grown to nearly 6,000.
In Turkmenistan, where the government continues to deny any cases of the coronavirus, deaths from pneumonia are unusually high and several hospitals have been put under quarantine.
In Tajikistan, all the public facilities, clothing markets, shopping malls, beauty salons, sanatoriums, restaurants and others, which had been temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 situation reopened in in other regions of the country on June 15, in line with the decision of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee on COVID-19 Response.
None of the figures Central Asian governments have provided reportedly appear credible but it seems apparent that the virus is spreading rapidly.
Media reports say the World Health Organization (WHO) warms of new, dangerous coronavirus phase. Top official of the UN health agency said on June 19 that the world has entered a “new and dangerous phase” of the coronavirus pandemic.
