NUR-SULTAN – The epidemiological situation in Kazakhstan is under control, said Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin at the meeting with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Akorda press service reported.
Tokayev and Mamin. Photo credit: Akorda press servic
Mamin elaborated to Tokayev the measures his government is taking to keeping the sanitary and epidemiological situation stable for the continued social and economic development of the country.
To prepare for a new wave of coronavirus infections, which many predict will occur as the flu season is just around the corner, the government is working to equip hospitals with a sufficient amount of medicines, medical ventilators, oxygen concentrators, and equip regions with mobile diagnostic complexes, digital X-ray machines, mobile teams and ambulances.
Currently, the construction of infectious disease modular hospitals in 10 of the 13 regions has been completed and the remaining three will be put into operation by the end of November this year, said Mamin.
The nation has also created a national and regional pharmaceutical stabilization fund to ensure the country’s 18 million citizens have sufficient access to medicines amid the pandemic.
Mamin also told Tokayev about recent measures to expand the scope of PCR testing and lower its price to 9,000 tenge (US$21).
The government commission recently allowed businesses to reopen in regions marked green – low-risk zones where the epidemiological situation is considered stable.
Tokayev emphasized the importance of fulfilling the government plans given the pessimistic forecast of the World Health Organization for the upcoming months. He said it is important to combine strict quarantine measures and the interests of business and the nation’s economic development.
The same day, Mamin chaired a meeting of a government commission to prevent the spread of COVID-19, where he criticized the low efficiency of monitoring groups to ensure control over compliance with quarantine restrictions, the poor job done to ensure compliance with the quarantine regime by citizens and sanitary requirements not being fulfilled by businesses.
He instructed the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development to prohibit passengers without PCR certificates from boarding international routes heading to Kazakhstan.
The Ministry of Health was tasked with ensuring strict control over compliance with sanitary and epidemiological requirements at border checkpoints and taking measures to reduce the price of personal protective equipment within the next week. The healthcare ministry will also work with the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry to create programs that will enable contact tracing for COVID-19.
The Atamaken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs and regional akimats (governor’s office) will continue inspecting trade malls, which were recently allowed to work on weekends, based on their compliance with sanitary regulations.
