Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan report record daily COVID-19 infections

Kazakhstan on Tuesday tightened restrictions in major cities, ordering non-essential businesses to close down from Aug.2 unless they use a COVID-19 tracking app to control access, and instructing 80% of public sector employees in those cities to work from home. Kazakhstan has administered the first COVID-19 vaccine dose to 5.2 million people and 3.4 million have been fully inoculated. In Uzbekistan, 4.2 million people have received the first dose, with about 1.1 million fully vaccinated.

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan reported record numbers of fresh COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, standing at 6,797 and 789 respectively, signaling that Central Asia has yet to overcome the latest pandemic wave, driven by new variants.

Uzbekistan has a population of 34 million compared with Kazakhstan's 19 million, but the latter does more tests while daily figures in the former are more indicative of cases requiring hospitalization. Kazakhstan on Tuesday tightened restrictions in major cities, ordering non-essential businesses to close down from Aug.2 unless they use a COVID-19 tracking app to control access, and instructing 80% of public sector employees in those cities to work from home.

Kazakhstan has administered the first COVID-19 vaccine dose to 5.2 million people and 3.4 million have been fully inoculated. Vaccinations are now mandatory for those employed in the services sector. In Uzbekistan, 4.2 million people have received the first dose, with about 1.1 million fully vaccinated.