Public establishments in Kazakhstan to work until midnight from August 9

Kazakhstan will extend the opening hours of public establishments using the Ashyq system from August 9. They will be allowed to work until midnight. It was announced by Kazakh Health Minister Alexey Tsoy at a press briefing. This applies to shopping malls and chain stores, eating facilities, including food courts and summer terraces. SPA and fitness centers, sports facilities, saunas, beauty salons, karaoke, cinemas and many other leisure facilities will also be able to work late. However, at the same time, requirements for Ashyq violators will be tightened. As it turned out, since the launch of the new system, more than 23,000 citizens with red status have tried to enter the facilities being aware of the danger they pose to others. Experts again urge residents to get vaccinated, because this will help everyone get back to normal.

“I would like to stress that 99.9 percent of those infected are not vaccinated. This fact confirms both the safety and the effectiveness of immunization. To date, vaccination is the only effective way to avoid severe illness and death from COVID-19. I therefore ask every Kazakh citizen to make a deliberate decision on vaccination, and by doing it, protect themselves and their loved ones, and contribute to the formation of herd immunity in our country,” Tsoy said.

Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova

 Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova