Mystery pneumonia outbreak in Kazakhstan likely to be coronavirus: WHO | News | DW | 11.07.2020
▻https://www.dw.com/en/kazakhstan-pneumonia-coronavirus/a-54135982
An unexplained pneumonia outbreak in Kazakhstan is likely to be the novel coronavirus, a World Health Organization (WHO) top official said late on Friday.
The executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, Michael Ryan, said in an online briefing from Geneva that he.thinks the cases “just have not been diagnosed correctly.”
The upward trajectory of COVID-19 in the country would support this, Ryan added.
Read more: WHO experts head to China for prelude to coronavirus probe
On Thursday, the Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan warned its citizens of a deadly unidentified strain of pneumonia, after a “significant” rise in cases in June.
Initially, the statement released through its social media WeChat channel referred to “Kazakhstan pneumonia,” before changing the wording to “non-COVID pneumonia.”
Kazakhstan dismissed the claims as “fake news.”
The central Asian country has logged over 56,000 cases with 264 deaths. Its government imposed a second lockdown this week to try to stop the virus from spreading.