Kazakhstan Categorically Denies Chinese Media Claims of New Unknown Pneumonia Cases

There have been a string of reports in Chinese media outlets claiming that Kazakhstan has reported cases of an unknown pneumonia, one more deadly than the coronavirus.

Kazakh Minister of Healthcare Alexey Tsoi.

The Ministry of Healthcare of Kazakhstan would like to officially state that this information is categorically FALSE.

It should be noted that the WHO has official codes for pneumonia in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), while COVID-19 is diagnosed clinically or epidemiologically, for example through the symptom of ground-glass opacity and affected lungs, and it is not laboratory confirmed.

Kazakhstan, in this regard, like other countries, monitors and keeps a record of these different types of pneumonia, which enables timely management-level decisions aimed at stabilising the incidence and prevalence of coronavirus infection.

At a briefing on July 9, Kazakh Minister of Healthcare Alexey Tsoi, spoke authoritatively about the overall number of pneumonia cases in the country – with clear distinctions between bacterial, fungal, viral and “viral pneumonia of unspecified etiology,” as per the ICD-10 classification. 

Therefore, based on the relevant presented data, the Ministry of Healthcare of Kazakhstan emphasizes that the Chinese media reports are FALSE.


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