Last Updated on July 10, 2020, 6:51 AM AST by Anthony Morris
The Government of China has warned the Chinese citizens who are living in Kazakhstan of a local “unknown pneumonia” which, is said to have a “much higher” mortality rate than the Covid-19 disease.
The Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan said in a statement on the WeChat platform on Thursday that the “unknown pneumonia in Kazakhstan has resulted in 1,772 deaths so far this year, and 628 people have died of the unknown pneumonia in the month of June alone.
The statement added that the deaths also included Chinese citizens.
The mortality rate of the disease in Kazakhstan is much higher than the mortality rate of COVID-19. The state-run Global Times reported this while it quoted the statement of the embassy on Friday.
The embassy said that many organisations, which also includes the health department of Kazakhstan, are studying the virus of this pneumonia.
There has not been any indication so far regarding this disease being related to the COVID-19.
Some Chinese experts have said that the measures shall be taken for preventing the unknown pneumonia from spreading into China.
Kazakhstan shares the border with northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China.
The embassy has reminded the Chinese citizens who are in Kazakhstan to raise their awareness regarding the measures of preventing the spread of the disease.
The embassy quoted local the media as saying that since mid-June, almost 500 people have been infected in three regions of Kazakhstan with pneumonia.
However, Kazakhstan’s healthcare ministry on Friday, stated that the Chinese media reports based on the embassy statement were fake news.
The ministry said that its tallies of bacterial, fungal and viral pneumonia infections, which also included the cases with unclear causes, were in line with the guidelines of the World Health Organisation.
As per Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus resource centre, Kazakhstan has reported 51,059 cases of COVID-19, and 264 deaths.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
