Tajikistan has confirmed its first coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, the Central Asian nation’s healthcare ministry said on April 30, saying 15 infections had been recorded.
The confirmation comes after weeks of authorities claiming the country was coronavirus-free despite sharing borders and trade with China as well as other Central Asian nations that have been reporting coronavirus cases since March. Activists have lately questioned a sudden spike in cases of lethal pneumonia in Tajikistan, suspecting that the government might be covering up the presence of the virus in the country.
Five cases have been confirmed in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, and 10 in Sughd Province bordering Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, the ministry said.
Tajikistan closed its borders in March and adopted a few measures against large social gatherings, but it remained less strict on social distancing.
The Tajik government said that nearly 11,000 people have been quarantined over the past three months and 8,438 have been discharged.
Turkmenistan is now the only country in Central Asia still claiming to be coronavirus-free.
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