NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, announced it would extend the operating hours of cafes and restaurants and open theatres at a limited capacity from Oct. 6 as part of a next step to ease COVID-19 restrictions, according to the latest decree of the city’s chief sanitary doctor Zhandarbek Bekshin.
Photo credit: Almaty Akimat press service
Businesses providing contactless services, such as car wash, car, and home appliance repair services, dry cleaning, and laundry will now work from 10 a.m. to midnight.
Canteens, coffee shops, and cafes located in free-standing buildings will be working until midnight as well, but are still prohibited to host mass gatherings.
Theatres were allowed to welcome visitors but only at half of their capacity. To resume their work, they have to register at infokazakhstan.kz, a government website that checks companies planning to resume their activities after the lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The epidemiological situation in Almaty is stable, said Bekshin at an Oct. 5 online press briefing. Over the past 24 hours, one COVID-19 case and one coronavirus pneumonia case have been reported.
Bekshin said that there were no plans to tighten restrictions amid recent growing rumors about another looming lockdown in Almaty.
As of Oct.5, Kazakhstan confirmed 108,236 coronavirus cases, with a total death toll that reached 1,725. It also reported 33,608 coronavirus pneumonia cases and 360 deaths.
