ALMATY (Reuters) – Kazakhstan will extend its second coronavirus lockdown by two weeks until the end of July, and will once again offer financial aid to those who have lost their source of income, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Monday.
Kazakhstan, which reported explosive growth in fresh COVID-19 and pneumonia cases after lifting restrictions in May, entered a second, albeit less stringent, lockdown on July 5 in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus.
“There are first signs now that the situation is beginning to improve,” he said in a tweet. “The next two weeks are important for the full stabilization of the situation.”
The oil-rich Central Asian nation has confirmed almost 60,000 cases of the disease with 375 deaths and reported shortages of hospital beds and popular medicines.
(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Toby Chopra and Raissa Kasolowsky)
