Photo from Medscape.com
The sharp rise in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Uzbekistan is due to the increased number of tests in the country, Uzbekistan’s health minister Alisher Shadmanov said today in an interview with news channel Uzbekistan 24, Gazeta.uz writes (in Russian).
Shadmanov stated that more than 4,700 tests were carried out yesterday in quarantine facilities and among risk groups in the wider population, leading to 76 new positive results. With a further 48 confirmed cases so far today, Uzbekistan’s total count has risen from 266 to 390 in less than 48 hours. To date, two people have died from the virus. The first was a 72-year-old woman, the second a 39-year-old doctor who had treated the country’s first patient and had hidden his own infection, trying unsuccessfully to treat it himself.
The health minister said that increased testing was in line with WHO recommendations to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by quick testing and the swift isolation of confirmed cases, and reminded viewers that symptoms can appear at various points of the 14-day incubation period. “This once again shows that the decision to place people in quarantine for 14 days was correct. To date, 50,676 who have shown no signs of illness have been released from quarantine,” he stated.
Shadmanov said that, of Uzbekistan’s 390 cases, 123 were individuals who had returned from abroad and the remainder those who had come into contact with them in some way (this would seem to conflict somewhat with an official announcement nearly two weeks ago already of a confirmed case of community spread). He gave examples of the authorities’ work in mapping the spread of the virus, including several individuals who had failed to report symptoms and gone on to directly or indirectly infect 40-50 other people. 100 people who have come into contact with another man who continued to work at three workplaces despite feeling ill have all been placed under observation. The Uzbek prosecutor-general’s office has today asked all Uzbeks to start keeping a diary of those they have been in contact with.
