Kazakhstan’s doctors registered 739 new coronavirus cases in the past day, six more than a day earlier, and the total caseload hit 153,199, the government’s commission for preventing the coronavirus spread reported.
In the past eight days some 733-776 new cases were reported. Some 0.8% of the republic’s 18.8 mln population were infected. The coronavirus spread rate stood at 1.01 during this period. The highest daily case tally of 1,962 was registered on July 9.
According to the commission, a total of 140,684 people recovered, including 841 in the past day. The total death toll from the coronavirus has hit 2,259, TASS reported.
As of December 24, a total of 5,250,104 COVID-19 tests have been carried out in the Central Asian republic. Some 2.9% of those who passed tests were infected.
On August 1, the Kazakh Health Ministry changed its method for counting coronavirus cases. Apart from confirmed COVID-19 patients, the data now includes patients diagnosed with pneumonia who test negative for the coronavirus but have symptoms similar to COVID-19. As many as 45,442 such cases and 490 deaths were recorded in the country as of December 28.
A state of coronavirus emergency was in effect in Kazakhstan between March 16 and May 11. Due to a rise in infections, the country’s authorities introduced a number of additional quarantine restrictions on July 5. The gradual easing of restrictions began on August 17. However, restrictions were tightened in the cities of Nur-Sultan and Almaty in mid-October, as well as in some other regions of the country, in order to prevent a second coronavirus wave. On December 20, Kazakhstan tightened quarantine measures on December 25-January 5, banning the New Year morning performances and office parties.
