BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 16
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Starting from March 16, 2020 Kazakhstan is suspending implementation of 68 regular flights a week due to the coronavirus outbreak, Kazakhstan's Vice Minister of Industry and Infrastructural Development Berik Kamaliyev said, Trend reports.
He reminded that some 49 regular international flights a week were suspended and 84 international flights a week were decreased earlier this year.
Decrease of flights concerns countries such as Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, the UAE, Georgia, India, Hungary, Poland, Kamaliyev said.
He added that currently regular passenger and baggage transportation by bus between Kazakhstan and China, Uzbekistan and Mongolia has been suspended.
Issuance of permits for touristic passenger transportation by Kazakh carriers between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, China, Mongolia, Ukraine and Tajikistan has also been suspended.
Transportation implemented by buses and minibuses between Kazakhstan and Russia, Kyrgyzstan has been decreased by two times.
Kamaliyev emphasized that in order to provide for uninterrupted supply of food, consumer goods, medicine and postal deliveries by road transport is not being restricted.
On March 13, 2020, first two cases of coronavirus infection have been detected in Kazakhstan among those who arrived in Almaty city from Germany. The latest data said that the overall number of coronavirus cases in Kazakhstan is 10.
The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019. The number of people killed by the disease has surpassed 6,500. Over 169,000 people have been confirmed as infected. Meanwhile, over 77,000 people have reportedly recovered.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11.