Healthcare ministry denies spike in coronavirus cases in Kazakhstan

According to the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan, the epidemiological situation in the country is stable/ Photo: Shutterstock

Rumors about a spike in the COVID-19 Delta variant are being circulated in Kazakhstan. However, according to the country’s healthcare ministry, the epidemiological situation is stable.

What happened? As the StopFake website reported, there are tons of messages on social media claiming that the number of people contracting the Delta variant is rapidly growing. These messages also said the new virus is very dangerous and symptom-free.

What did the healthcare ministry say? According to the agency, all those messages about the spike in the Delta variant are fake.

«The epidemiological situation with the COVID-19 infection in the country is stable. We are monitoring new viruses and the latest sequence analysis has shown none of the new variants. The Delta variant circulated throughout the country in 2021. At the time, it caused severe conditions for many patients,» the ministry said in a statement.

What is the current situation with COVID-19 in Kazakhstan? According to the healthcare agency, the vast majority of patients report a mild form of the disease.

«By now, only 3% of beds are occupied in our infectious hospitals as the majority of patients have been receiving ambulatory medical care,» the agency highlighted.

As Kursiv reported last week, Kazakhstani medics haven’t found the presence of new sub-variants of Omicron called Eris and Pirola in the country.

Since the beginning of this year, Kazakhstan’s healthcare system has reported 10,648 cases of COVID-19 and 564 cases of pneumonia. The epidemiologic situation in the country is stable as the infection rate decreased by 36.5 times from 409,886 cases to 11,212 compared to last year, the Sanitary and Epidemiological Control Committee reported.

At the same time, Russia has reported a 50% increase in COVID-19 cases over the past week. Some public agencies in Russia have even embraced the practice of wearing masks once again and a COVID hospital was reopened in Moscow.

In August, international experts reported about Eris and Pirola, new sub-variants of Omicron. They are contagious and resilient to drugs, while their symptoms are similar to the flu. The World Health Organization has taken both viruses under control.