Kazakhstan May Declare Lockdown Once Again

According to Alexey Tsoy, head of the health system of Kazakhstan, the government can introduce strict quarantine measures if the situation around COVID-19 worsens. He made this statement at the president’s meeting on preparation for the second wave of coronavirus.

As Kazakhstani officials believe, there are three scenarios of what the pandemic may look like soon. 

«In the case of the pessimistic scenario, if only 60% of people wear their masks, the number of registered cases in the October-December period will be about 190,000 people with 65,000 who may need to be hospitalized. The forecast for a possible new lockdown is mid-December,” Interfax-Kazakhstan Agency reported, citing the minister.

According to the realistic scenario, if social distancing measures are in place and 70% of people wear masks, the predicted number of registered cases in October-December 2020 could be about 90,000 people.

“In this case, medical care in hospitals might be required for only 30,000 people. The forecast for lockdown is January,” Tsoy said.

In the last scenario, if 100% of people wear their masks, it would be possible to avoid strict quarantine at all, Tsoy stated.

“Under this optimistic scenario, the number of registered cases in October-December 2020 will be about 40,000 people with 15,000 people who may need hospitalization,» he predicted.

The first coronavirus case was reported in Kazakhstan on March 13. On March 16 the state of emergency was declared that lasted to May 11. However, on July 5 the government resumed strict quarantine measures due to a sharp increase in reported COVID-19 cases.