Nur-Sultan to Consider Closing Restaurants and Shopping Centers

Altay Kulginov, the mayor of the city of Nur-Sultan, has addressed the residents due to the situation with COVID-19. 

He has confirmed that health system officials reported cases of a new, so-called Indian variant, which is more contagious and dangerous (due to a shorter incubation period of just one week) strain for anyone who contracts it.

«The number of people contracting the new variant has been increasing. Yesterday 413 cases were reported! More than one thousand people are receiving medical treatment in infectious hospitals, the occupation rate of hospital beds is close to 50%. About 100 people are in reanimation, 21 of them need lung ventilators. It’s time to stand up and get a vaccine!» he wrote on social media.

According to the official, everyone who comes in contact with people while working must think about safety and protect their loved ones, themselves and other people around them.  

«If your job is to serve meals in a restaurant or shopping center, you can’t just refuse to be vaccinated, you have to protect yourself and the people around you. I mean, this is a direct message to these businesses, they have to convince employees to get a vaccine. Otherwise, these organizations will not be able to continue working,» he stated.

Also, Kulginov noted that people who count for groups of risk should be vaccinated as well. Among that target audience are teachers, health system workers, social workers and those who work with children in schools, kindergartens, colleges and universities. Banks, hair salons and public service centers should also persuade their employees to get two doses of the vaccine.

This is the only way to protect people, Kulginov believes.

«If people or businesses fail to comply with sanitary rules, and the number of cases start to grow, there’ll no choice for us except getting back to the lockdown,» he underlined. 

On June 21 the Interagency Commission on COVID-19 announced a recommendation to the Nur-Sultan authorities to toughen quarantine measures.