Kazakhstan President’s spokesman hospitalized with COVID-19

Berik Uali (Facebook)

NUR-SULTAN: Berik Uali, the spokesman for the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is undergoing treatment at a local hospital after he tested positive for COVID-19.

Uali broke the news in a post on his Facebook page, but insisted that the president’s health was not at risk.

“Now I am in the hospital, under medical supervision. My condition is normal. Not too disturbing. I am receiving treatment,” Uali posted.

“The main thing is that the President is working according to schedule. There is no threat to the health of the head of state. Kassym-Zhomart Kemelovich regularly takes tests and receives results. Sanitary regime and security measures have been tightened in Akorda.”

Akorda is the presidential palace, the official workplace of the President of Kazakhstan, located in the capital Nur-Sultan.

President Tokayev chairing the meeting (Kazinfo)

On Friday, the InformKazak news agency, posted pictures of Tokayev holding “a working meeting with officials to review reports on the work of law enforcement agencies and the state of supervision over legislative compliance.”

In his post, Uali took COVID-19 skeptics to task and warned that the virus is a bitter reality on the ground.

“Since the outbreak of the epidemic, we have all sounded the alarm and called for caution and ways to prevent the spread of the disease. However, the number of those who do not believe in a pandemic and say that there is no disease is growing,” he said.

The skeptics challenge reports about the virus by demanding “Show me a sick person”, or asking “None of my acquaintances is sick. Then who is sick with it?”, “Why don’t they name sick people?”.

“Well, here I am infected. The goal I am saying this is for carefree people to think and for unbelievers to see. There is a disease. The number of infected people is growing every day. No matter how many precautions we take, we are infected. I urge all of you to follow the quarantine regime and preventive measures to protect your health and that of your loved ones. The pandemic should not be taken lightly. Good luck to you all!”

Kazakhstan, a country of 18.3 million people, has up to June 7 registered 12,511 confirmed cases, 7,135 recoveries and 53 deaths. The first case was reported on March 13, two Kazakh nationals returning from Germany.