Kazakhstan is first country to go back into lockdown as infections rise

KAZAKHSTAN will today become the first nation to re-impose a countrywide lockdown after its easing of measures to counter coronavirus sparked a surge in infections.

The Central Asian borders Russia and China, appeared to have contained the disease after a twomonth lockdown with just a few thousand confirmed Covid-19 cases.

But the country, home to 18 million, embraced its rediscovered freedoms with gusto in mid-May. Family-oriented Kazakhs travelled to see relatives, and police would routinely break up wedding parties of up to 100 people as large gatherings were still banned. Now it is faced with a total of 44,000 confirmed cases. Its hospitals – unlike previously – are over-stretched.

Travel will be limited again, working hours of public transport cut down, non-essential businesses closed, and two cities in Kazakhstan’s east will be closed for entry and exit.

Social media has been flooded with images of ambulances lining up outside hospitals. Lines have formed at pharmacies this week as people started hoarding medicine, triggering shortages. On Thursday, 70,000 packets of paracetamol delivered to pharmacies in Almaty, the country’s biggest city, sold out within half an hour.

Saule Atygayeva, chief infectious disease doctor in the capital city of

Nur-Sultan, told the Khabar TV channel: “I have never seen anything like this before. People are dying because people don’t care about anything. They’re out on streets, going to parties, infecting each other.”

Lukpan Akhmedyarov, a newspaper editor in Uralsk by the Russian border, said: “Most people simply did not believe there was any danger. The message from authorities at that point was that we have passed the peak.

“The number of cases we had back in March was dozens. Now we’re recording hundreds of new cases every day, doctors have no energy any longer, and people have no money.”

Although the official death toll stands at only 200, it is believed the true figure is much higher.