Two-Week-Long Quarantine Declared in Kazakhstan
While the epidemiological situation in Kazakhstan is getting worse and the number of coronavirus cases increases, the state commission decided to introduce a fourteen-day quarantine starting from July 5, the Primeminister.kz website says.
Transportation:
1. To keep the current number of flight connections with no new international destinations.
2. To keep air travel between the country’s regions as well as train routes (with some limitations).
3. To suspend bus service between regions.
4. To limit work time for public transportation.
Movement of people:
1. To ban all public entertainment, sports and other events attracting crowds of people including events with family and relatives.
2. To allow people to stay outdoors for exercise.
3. To allow people to walk on the streets, parks and public gardens but only alone or in groups not more than three persons.
4. To restrict the movement of people older than 65 years.
Types of activities to be banned:
1. All beauty and hair salons, as well as gyms, fitness centers, swimming pools, food and non-food covered marketplaces, beaches, aqua parks, cultural facilities, museums, exhibitions, forums, conferences and other organized mass gathering events, entertainment centers, preschool facilities (except skeleton groups), religious facilities, karaoke bars, billiard rooms, computer clubs, bowling centers, cinemas, children’s camps, food courts, and event halls.
2. State agencies and organizations, offices, national companies, and other enterprises should keep remote work for at least 80% of their employees.
3. To keep the work of medical centers with pre-reservation of patient visits.
4. To keep work of drug stores, groceries, and open-air marketplaces.
5. To keep activities of the following businesses if all sanitary and disinfection rules are in place: open-air eating places; construction activities; enterprises where production cycles cannot be interrupted; construction work on open-air; agricultural work, fisheries, livestock businesses, and public services such as carwashes, car repair shops, household appliance maintenance, public service centers and commercial banks (with work time limitations).
As the Kazakhstani Prime Minister noted, if the epidemiological situation worsens, authorities can toughen these restrictive measures or extend them for an additional two weeks.
Earlier, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the President of Kazakhstan wrote on Twitter that the government has suggested the fourteen-day quarantine to start this weekend. The health minister has had to clarify that plan after the Interagency Commission meeting, the president said
On June 29, Tokayev headed a meeting on coronavirus where he criticized regional governors (akims) and ministers for not informing the people who complain about the lack of information. He admonished officials and called them to task.
Later, Aleksey Tsoy, the new head of the Ministry of Health informed the president on three COVID-19 scenarios. The first with no quarantine, the second with a two-week-long quarantine and the third with four weeks under lockdown. According to the official, the third scenario is the most effective way to stop coronavirus from spreading and to prepare needed infrastructure.
As of July 2, there were 42574 COVID-19 cases reported in Kazakhstan with 13845 recovered and 188 dead.
