Kazakhstani Health Officials Claim Coronavirus Mutation

According to Zhanar Suleymenova, the health minister’s adviser for clinical laboratory service, the symptoms of coronavirus have become softer in Kazakhstan. This statement was announced on June 22 at a press briefing of the Central Communications Service under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

As the official noted, the country’s health system currently reports more asymptomatic cases or mild illness of COVID-19.

«This means that the genetic structure of the disease has changed. Those huge numbers of cases with severe pneumonia we reported before do not appear anymore,» said Kazinform news agency, citing Suleymenova.

According to Zhumabek Bekenov, head of the Department for Infectious Diseases Prevention under the Ministry of Health’s National Center of Public Health, the total number of patients with COVID-19 and its symptoms in Kazakhstan is above 27,000.  

«Currently there were 27541cases of COVID-19 reported. Among them, 9809 people have no symptoms and 17732 have very clear symptoms. Lately, we have registered 1471 cases with 507 patients who were obviously ill and 964 who had obscure symptoms,» Bekenov said.

Earlier, due to the worsening of the epidemiological situation in Nur-Sultan, all public and private kindergardens were closed; polyclinics and day hospitals stopped receiving patients as well.

The first coronavirus case was reported in Kazakhstan on March 13. Three days later, the president declared a state of emergency. On March 19, the two largest cities, Nur-Sultan and Almaty, were put under quarantine. 

Since then, the president extended the state of emergency twice on April 14 and April 27. This regime was lifted by the president’s edict on May 11. It was planned to lift quarantine measures in regions very cautiously when the situation with the disease was improved.