Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev contracts COVID-19 as outbreak worsens in the country
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Kazakhstan’s influential former president Nursultan Nazarbayev has self-isolated after testing positive for COVID-19, his spokesman Aidos Ukibay wrote on Twitter.
“There is no reason for concern,” Ukibay wrote, referring to the health of 79-year-old Nazarbayev, who retains sweeping powers as Yelbasy, or national leader, and chair of the oil-rich nation’s security council.
Kazakhstan will close shopping malls, markets and parks in major cities on June 20-21 and make additional hospital beds available for COVID-19 patients, the Central Asian nation’s government said on Thursday.
The government said the restrictions were needed due to a worsening of the outbreak there. It also ordered all provinces of the country to broaden their coronavirus testing.
The spread of the virus has accelerated in the nation of 19 million since it ended a nationwide lockdown last month. Kazakhstan reported about 23,000 cases as of Friday, with 100 deaths, up from about 5,000 cases at the end of its lockdown.
Several members of the oil-rich nation’s government have self-isolated after Healthcare Minister Yelzhan Birtanov and lower house speaker Nurlan Nigmatulin tested positive for COVID-19.
