Nur-Sultan enters COVID-19 ‘Red’ zone

The Kazakh capital is in the high-risk ‘red’ zone, as 121 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours were reported in the city, Kazakh Healthcare Ministry reported.  Restrictive measures are not taken yet. Recently, the Mayor of Nur-Sultan announced that it is not planned to impose a strict lockdown and shut down the city during the holidays. However, if the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise, city residents will face new restrictions.

The chief sanitary doctor has issued a resolution, according to which each point on tightening quarantine measures is currently being discussed with the local executive bodies of Nur-Sultan. We are in the ‘red’ zone because our residents do not follow certain rules, including wearing masks and social distancing. There are people, who hold festive events in restaurants. The increase in new COVID-19 cases is also due to people coming from other region, said Yerzhan Baitanayev, spokesperson of the Kazakh Health Ministry.

Besides Nur-Sultan, Pavlodar region still remains in the ‘red’ zone, where the coronavirus infection rate is not going down. The epidemiological situation is slightly better in Almaty city as well as Kostanai region, Akmola region, East Kazakhstan, North Kazakhstan and Atyrau regions. They are now in the ‘yellow’ zone. Other regions are in a safe ‘green’ zone.

777 more COVID-19 cases were registered in Kazakhstan in the last 24 hours. The total number of coronavirus cases recorded across the country since the beginning of the pandemic has passed 139,000.