Last updated: July 31

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ARMENIA

Restrictions

• With a reduction in requests for COVID-19 tests, the Health Ministry has eased requirements, Radio Azatutyun reported on July 22.

• Pressure on the health system has eased in the last week, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on July 16, potentially indicating higher compliance with sanitary regulations, reported EVN. For the fourth day in a row, there are no patients waiting to be admitted to the hospital or to be transferred to hospitals treating COVID-19.

• "Nearly 50 percent of Armenians encounter misleading or false information regarding COVID-19 in the media 'daily' or 'almost daily'," an IRI poll released on July 14 found; 71 percent said they support the government's management of the pandemic. 

• As Armenia’s COVID-19 epidemic continues to metastasize, with its infection rate among the highest in the world, the country’s leadership has said that it will continue to rely on voluntary self-isolation rather than reimposing a lockdown. 

• Yerevan extended the state of emergency on July 13 through August 12, EVN reported. 

• A potential amendment to the administrative code would raise fines for not wearing masks to 20,000 dram ($42) in open spaces and 50,000 dram ($104) in closed spaces, with the fine doubled for repeat violations within one year, Radio Armenia reported on July 7. Pashinyan ordered mask distribution stations to be set up across Yerevan, Radio Azatutyun reported on July 6. Workers will also hand out guidance on sanitary rules and regulations.

• A recently published survey by the Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) revealed high levels of optimism among Armenians before the onset of the virus, according to EVN report. The survey results contrasted with those of 2017, when Armenians expressed deep doubt that life in the country would ever improve. 

• Schools are closed. Shops and restaurants reopened on May 18.

Health

• Over the past three weeks, the number of recoveries has topped the number of new infections for all but three days, we reported on July 30. In recent days the country had reported 300 or fewer cases per day; in June it was regularly reporting 600 or more. “We have a chance to break the back of this epidemic,” said Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at a July 30 government sitting, saying that he hoped Armenia “will be able to register the end of the crisis in September.” Health Minister Arsen Torosyan said the peak passed on July 6. 

•  

  The mayor of Yerevan allocated 100 million drams ($205,000) from the city fund to medical workers battling the coronavirus, Radio Armenia reported on July 10.

Economics

• When Armenia ended its coronavirus lockdown in early May, even as the epidemic’s spread was accelerating, the government cited the need to keep the economy going and let people get back to work. Nearly three months on, the economy has continued to suffer, we reported on July 30.
• Armenia's Central Bank reaffirmed its prediction that the economy will contract 4 percent this year, Radio Azatutyun reported on July 28.

AZERBAIJAN

Cities in Azerbaijan are under strict, stay-at-home lockdown until at least July 20. As under a previous regime used in April and May, residents must now send a text message to the authorities any time they want to leave home, and can do so only under a limited set of circumstances, including visiting a doctor or shopping for food. But unlike the earlier quarantine in April, people over the age of 65 may also request permission to go outside. Most commercial services are closed. Baku residents are not allowed to leave the city.

Restrictions

• Tens of thousands of people violated lockdown on July 14 to protest the recent border clash with Armenia and the government's response. Some chanted "end the quarantine, start the war."
• More checkpoints may be added in quarantine zones towards the end of the week, Trend reported on July 9. Vehicles may also be fined twice for attempting to pass through separate checkpoints, according to a State Road Police representative.
• Police have been fining people for leaving their homes or appearing in public with permission but without a mask. On July 7, for example, 1,874 were fined, Turan reported. 
• The military has been deployed in Baku and several other cities to enforce quarantine, reported AFP on July 3. Despite the measures, the number of infections across Azerbaijan continues to rise.
• Parliament doubled fines for not wearing masks to 100 manats for individuals and 200 for officials, Interfax reported on June 29. Authorities also reduced the number of times Baku residents may leave home from twice to once per day, Turan.az reported on June 29.
• A "flash mob" organized by conservatory students sang “Long live Azerbaijan, long live the police” from a residential balcony, Jam News reported on June 26. The concert was widely panned on social media by people believing it was organized by the police.
• Police installed traffic cameras on secondary roads out of Baku after hundreds attempted to flee the city on June 20, JAM News reported on June 23. Officials had earlier tried to dig up these roads to make driving impossible; but drivers simply filled holes themselves to escape. Police checkpoints on main roads stop anyone from leaving the city.
• Schools and most stores closed. Borders closed.

Health

• One hundred fifteen Cuban medics arrived in Baku on July 13 to help the country fight COVID, Azertag reported. They are scheduled to stay for three months.

Economy

• Downward pressure is easing on the Azerbaijani manat, though Baku remains highly dependent on oil and gas sales, which account for roughly 40 percent of GDP, 81 percent of export revenues, and two-thirds of the government budget, Fitch Ratings said on July 17. "Azerbaijan's very strong external balance sheet is absorbing most of the impact from lower oil prices," Fitch said in its negative outlook, but "lack of predictability and transparency of policy-making exacerbates the risk of policy missteps." 

• Income from Azerbaijan's oil exports fell 30 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2020, Turan reported on July 17. Non-oil exports decreased by 6.9 percent.

• Oil workers on offshore platforms have been told to take pay cuts or be sacked, OC Media reported on July 2. Some workers report they have not been paid in months.

GEORGIA

Restrictions

• Though the border with Russia is largely closed, almost half of all COVID cases in Georgia can be traced there, Ekho Kavkaza on July 28 quoted the National Center for Disease Control as saying. Truck drivers are the main vector and they are allowed to cross the closed border.

• A poll conducted for the National Democratic Institute in June found 73 percent of Georgians agree that the country's low number of coronavirus cases “is mostly due to the correct steps by the government and doctors," while 17 percent believe that “this situation in Georgia is mostly due to our genetics and religion,” Civil.ge reported on July 28. Ninety percent of Georgians trust the National Center for Disease Control, 85 percent trust the central government, 73 percent trust journalists and 61 percent trust the church, the poll found.

• Authorities locked down the village of Karajala in Gardabani Municipality on July 24 after the area saw a spike in confirmed cases earlier in the week, including several with an unknown origin. Authorities have been testing at Tbilisi's Lilo Market, where many people from Gardabani work, Interpress reported on July 24. Testing continued on July 27.

• The KGB of South Ossetia – a Russian-backed separatist territory that the UN recognizes as part of Georgia – has accused Tbilisi of sending agents to collect bat colonies in an effort to develop biological weapons, Civil.ge reported on July 17. The head of Georgia’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention called the allegations a “staged provocation.”

• Parliament extended its controversial emergency powers through the end of the year, Civil.ge reported on July 14. The opposition, which boycotted the vote, accused the ruling party of using coronavirus to "strengthen authoritarian rule." But the government said it needed the powers to keep the pandemic at bay through elections in October.

• Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia announced that starting July 13, Georgia will allow open-air cultural events to proceed over the summer, reported Agenda.ge on July 9.

• The European Union invited Georgia into a travel bubble on July 1. But in an unusual role reversal, Tbilisi has declined the offer. The EU on July 1 began allowing travelers from a select group of countries to visit as the bloc’s members begin to reopen their borders to foreign arrivals. Georgia earned a place on the list, but it has decided to keep its borders closed for at least another month. 

Health

• Medics account for 129 of Georgia's positive cases, or 13 percent, Interpress reported on July 29.

• Ten more Georgian soldiers serving in Afghanistan tested positive for COVID-19 and were repatriated by the German Air Force, Civil.ge reported on July 17. Earlier in the month, 28 who tested positive were brought home; none were were reported to be severe cases.

• Masks are legally required in indoor public spaces. 

Economy

• Real GDP shrank 5.8 percent in the first six months of 2020 compared to the same period last year, the National Statistics Office said on July 31. In June, the year-on-year decline was 7.7 percent, an improvement over the 13.5 percent decline in May and the 16.6 percent contraction in April.

• With the exception of flights from Paris, Munich and possibly Riga, Georgia will not allow international flights to land in the country until at least August 31, Agenda.ge reported on July 22. The EU has allowed Georgian citizens to resume visits since July 1.

• Georgia’s foreign trade turnover decreased by 18.2 percent in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period last year, Civil.ge reported on July 20. Turkey remains the country’s largest trading partner, followed by Russia.

• Georgia is considering opening its borders to foreigners who wish to work remotely from the South Caucasus, Interpress reported on July 16. Applicants would need to commit to living in Georgia for six months and subject themselves to a 14-day quarantine upon arrival.

• Tourism company representatives gathered in Tbilisi on July 15 to protest the continued closure of air transport in and out of Georgia, reported Caucasian Knot on July 15. The demonstrators demanded that borders open to those countries in the EU where the pandemic has stabilized.

• The Health Ministry is allowing gyms to reopen after months of protests by fitness center owners and trainers, Agenda.ge reported on July 8. Social distancing must be observed inside the fitness centers, and every customer must undergo a temperature check before entering.

BREAKAWAY TERRITORIES

• The de facto government in Abkhazia declared a state of emergency on March 27, closing borders and stopping public transportation. It banned tourists, the mainstay of the economy, and closed most businesses. The border with Russia is currently closed through August 4. The territory eased several quarantine restrictions, however, allowing markets to reopen and public celebrations, such as weddings, to resume on June 15.
• At a meeting on July 20, the Health Ministry said it is ready, against some protest, to open the territory's borders to Russian tourists, though it said it has facilities to treat a maximum 300 COVID-19 patients. Sputnik Abkhazia added that Abkhazia can only carry out 50-70 tests per day. On July 21, officials discussed a plan for reopening that would require all tourists arriving in the region to present evidence they tested negative within the previous three days.
• South Ossetia, Georgia's other breakaway region, closed its border with Russia on April 5, including for freight, sealing the contested territory off for anyone without special government permission. It has extended the closure through July. The region's first case was confirmed on May 6. The patient arrived from Russia, state media reported. It is unclear how he passed the border. 
• The de facto president of Nagorno-Karabakh extended the region's state of emergency on July 11 through August 12.

KAZAKHSTAN

Residents of Almaty wishing to sacrifice an animal to celebrate the upcoming Kurban Ait holiday will have to pay someone to do it for them and watch online. “Through this site, you can apply for a sacrifice ceremony without leaving your home," explained Supreme Mufti Nauryzbay kazhy Taganuly at the launch of qurban2020.muftyat.kz. "In the current pandemic, you will be able to make a sacrifice remotely, without any contact." Kurban Ait is known elsewhere in the Muslim world as Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, and marks Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son for God. This year it begins on July 31.

Restrictions

• President Tokayev on July 29 extended lockdown for two weeks, a day after Health Minister Alexei Tsoi said lockdown rules would ease on August 3, since new cases had “stabilized at an average of 1,600 people per day,” while demand on hospital beds has fallen. 

• Tsoi said on July 23 that the authorities will merge tallies of pneumonia cases into overall statistics on coronavirus beginning August 1, but that they do not intend to apply this protocol retrospectively. That could exclude some 234,000 cases.

• Almaty introduced $200 fines for people who do not wear masks in public, Tengri News reported on July 15. Sanitary officials in Almaty have administered over 500 fines so far this month for individuals violating sanitary regulations in the city, Tengri News reported on July 16. Over 250 of the cases involved people not wearing masks.

• Tsoi wants to decrease “negative” coverage of the pandemic, Tengri News reported on July 14. The ministry intends to monitor social media posts for a critical tone and by distributing more information seeks to decrease such posts to 10 percent of the total.

• President Tokayev on July 13 said the current lockdown, which began on July 5, would be extended for two weeks. Unlike the previous lockdown, from March to May, when people were forbidden from leaving their homes except to purchase food, this time some businesses will be allowed to remain open and groups of no more than three people will be permitted in public. 

Health

• Kazakhstan has the capacity to perform 32,000 tests per day, but 20,000 is enough, Health Minister Alexei Tsoi said on July 30, Vlast reported.

• Uralsk is struggling to keep up with trash collection because so many sanitary workers have fallen ill with COVID-19. Residents in the city of 240,000 are complaining about the stench and the filth in the summer heat, Tengri News reported on July 23.

• Almaty’s chief physician says the number of residents with COVID-19 antibodies has risen to 23 percent, Tengri News reported on July 22

• Tsoi on July 21 said the situation had "stabilized" at 1600-1700 new cases per day, adding that authorities are designing a roadmap to lift stay-at-home restrictions.

• Patients who develop pneumonia with an unclear source but test negative for coronavirus will, from August 1, be counted as part of Kazakhstan's COVID-19 total. Tengri News on July 20 cited one expert as saying that the number would thus jump from around 72,000 on July 20 to between 230,000 and 300,000. 

• In Almaty officials have begun burying people who die of pneumonia using the same sanitary precautions in place for COVID-19 victims, Mediazona.ca reported on July 20. 

• Seven Kazakh news organizations launched a website to independently track COVID-19 deaths on July 13. Organizers say that official mortality statistics appear to be inaccurate because they do not include the huge spike in deaths from pneumonia, which is often a complication of COVID. The project can be found at umytpa.kz.  

• Kazakhstan’s government on July 10 denied a Chinese Embassy statement that had suggested the country was grappling with an “unknown pneumonia” more deadly than coronavirus. Hundreds of people are being hospitalized with pneumonia every day in the country, authorities have confirmed, though most are believed to be COVID-19 cases. The embassy later watered down the statement after it had appeared widely in Chinese media. WHO experts believe the pneumonia cases are merely coronavirus false negatives, reported Deutsche Welle on July 11. The WHO is working with local authorities to determine with X-rays whether the pneumonia cases are, in fact, deriving from the same source. 

• Masks are mandatory in public.

Economy

• The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection on July 24 announced it had earmarked a one-time payment of 2 million tenge ($4,800) for 112 medical workers so far.

• The World Bank expects Kazakhstan’s economy to contract by 3 percent this year, it said in a July 22 report: “Preliminary estimates suggest that the poverty rate may rise in 2020 from a projected 8.3 to 12.7 percent – equating to more than 800,000 additional people living in poverty.” 

• The government site for filing for a lockdown stipend has crashed due to heavy traffic, Fergana reported on July 17. Authorities promised citizens 42,500 tenge (about $100) a month to those whose incomes have been severely compromised by the lockdown.

• President Tokayev announced that Kazakhstan’s economy has shrunk 1.8 percent since the beginning of 2020, Central Asia News reported on July 10.

• “The potential weakening of the ruble, the currency of one of our main trade partners, carries downside risk for the tenge,” Reuters quoted Kazakhstan's Deputy Central Bank Governor Aliya Moldabekova as warning on July 9. A widening current account deficit will also put downward pressure on the currency.

KYRGYZSTAN

Restrictions

• The Muftiate said on July 28 that public prayers will not be held on July 31 to mark the Kurman Ait holiday, known elsewhere in the Muslim world as Eid al-Adha. 

• Police are investigating employees of a Bishkek morgue for allegedly extorting money from victims' families to release bodies without autopsy, 24.kg reported on July 21.

• Police are now stationed outside a major hospital in the capital after doctors were threatened by grieving family members and, in one case, attacked, Mediazona.ca reported on July 18.

• Authorities in the southern Jalal-Abad province have reintroduced a strict quarantine in one district, forbidding people from coming or going, Kloop reported on July 20.

• A group of political scientists drafted an open letter to Vladimir Putin, asking that he provide more aid to the country to help contain the pandemic, Fergana News reported on July 16. The group accused the Kyrgyz government of incompetence and corruption, and asked the Russian president to send doses of a new COVID-19 vaccine allegedly being developed in Russia, which is rumored to be available starting next month.

• Several parliamentarians wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Kubatbek Boronev stressing the need to bring in international epidemiological experts to help contain the virus, 24.kg reported on July 14.

• A group of World War II veterans from Kyrgyzstan has appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin for assistance fighting coronavirus, likening the pandemic to the siege of Leningrad, Vecherniy Bishkek reported on July 11.

• Kyrgyzstan hit another COVID-19 record on July 12, Kloop reported, with 719 new cases. The vast majority are in Bishkek. Of the 48 people who died over the previous 24 hours with symptoms, only seven had received a positive COVID test; 41 died with pneumonia.

• The Supreme Court has canceled all sessions after staff and judges tested positive for the coronavirus, Fergana News reported on July 8.

Health

• The Health Ministry on July 30 said 73 medical workers have died with COVID-19, Kloop reported. Their families are entitled to a government payout of 1 million som ($13,000), though payments have been routinely delayed. As of July 29, 2,711 medical workers had been infected with COVID-19, Kloop reported.

• Kyrgyzstan feels it has paid a heavy reputational price for merging pneumonia and coronavirus figures after the New York Times placed the country at the top of its league of countries with new cases in the past seven days. The Health Ministry on July 23 bristled at this characterization, which it said did not account for the fact that most of the cases in question were not recorded in the very recent past.

• The Health Ministry warned that the folk medicine practice of hajima, a type of bloodletting, does not help treat COVID-19 and can be dangerous, 24.kg reported on July 15. Interest grew in the method after a journalist and singer released a video on social media praising hajima.

• As the virus continues to spread, pharmacies are running out of the drugs used to treat COVID-19 symptoms, reported Azattyk on July 13. The price of such drugs has also skyrocketed, inducing widespread complaints about the government's handling of the crisis.

• One-third of paramedics in Bishkek have fallen sick with pneumonia or coronavirus, 24.kg reported on July 10. 

• "Local medical services in Bishkek are overwhelmed.  Hospital beds are unavailable and doctors and nurses are in short supply. This is true for both COVID and non-COVID medical care," the U.S. Embassy said on July 6.

• Masks are required in public.

Economy

• The Financial Police have begun raiding pharmacies as they investigate reports of artificial drug shortages and overpricing, Kloop reported on July 24.

• A health workers’ union is lobbying the government to increase medics’ salaries, 24.kg reported on July 17. The last salary increase occurred in 2011, when doctors began receiving 5,000 soms per month ($64.50 today) and other medical personnel began receiving 4,300 soms.

• A social media user posted a video allegedly proving that PPE which volunteers had bought and sent to a Bishkek hospital never made it into the hands of the doctors, reported 24.kg on July 9. Some 550 masks and 200 bottles of antibiotics are missing. 

• Investigative journalists said on July 2 they had found evidence, by poring through public procurement contracts from January to May, that the government is purchasing personal protective equipment at inflated prices.

• Kyrgyz students across Russia are unable to return home and they are falling increasingly into debt without part-time work to support their studies, Vecherny Bishkek reported on June 23. One student recorded a video on behalf of his peers pleading for help getting home. 

TAJIKISTAN

Remittances from Russia in the first half of 2020 decreased 15 percent year-on-year, the chairman of the National Bank said in a July 22 briefing short on details. Tajikistan’s economy is perilously reliant on remittances. In 2019, those payments amounted to around $2.5 billion, which is equivalent to around 33 percent of gross domestic product, or GDP.

Restrictions

• A company in Tajikistan has begun selling coronavirus life insurance: For a one-time payment of about $9.70, the family of the deceased will receive $970 if they can produce a death certificate listing COVID-19 as the cause of death, state media reported on July 20. It is a risky bet: The government seems intent on downplaying the pandemic's reach.

• Deaths in the first half of 2020 were 11 percent higher than last year, though the government will not connect the increase to coronavirus, Asia-Plus reported on July 13. The rate of births, marriages and divorces has also fallen this year.

• Of the 98 prisoners across Tajikistan who have tested positive for the coronavirus, 11 have died, reported Central Asia Media on July 14.

• President Emomali Rahmon signed an amendment to the criminal code allowing people to be imprisoned for up to five years for spreading the coronavirus, reported Asia Plus on July 6.

• The country should increase testing from about 1,000 per day to 3,000-4,000 and deploy mobile laboratories, said local WHO representatives on July 6, Asia-Plus reported. The WHO also recommended Tajikistan report probable cases of coronavirus fatalities, which the country is not doing.

• Tajikistan has blocked a website that is trying to independently track COVID-related deaths. The crowd-sourced site, kvtj.info, lists hundreds of deaths caused by COVID-19 or related pneumonia, many times the government's official tally. RFE/RL has reported that the government is not testing many people who die with COVID-like symptoms. 

Health

• The statistics agency said morality was up 11 percent in the first half of 2020, but insists this has nothing to do with COVID-19, Ozodi reported on July 30.
• About 70 doctors have died in Tajikistan during the pandemic thus far, the Prague-based Akhbor news agency estimated on July 23.
• Health Minister Jamoliddin Abdullozoda said on July 24 that not one doctor has died of COVID-19 contracted inside a hospital, Asia-Plus reported (he did not rule out deaths from the disease acquired outside medical facilities). While defending the reliability of his ministry's COVID statistics, Abdullozoda declined to say how many doctors have been infected.
• Tajikistan is conducting between 1,500 and 2,000 tests per day, State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service Director Navruz Jafarov told Asia-Plus on July 23, which is "enough," though the WHO said the country should be able to test 4,000 people per day.
• Tajikistan's health system is falling apart, its doctors so severely underpaid they would rather work in Yemen or Afghanistan, government investment promises unfulfilled, and the entire system – from medical colleagues to point-of-care – corrupt, says a July 14 report by the International Partnership for Human Rights. Most facilities are more than fifty years old and many "lack basic medicines or even a satisfactory supply of electricity, water, and heating, as well as a sewage system." 
• Kazakhstan has promised to send 100 ventilators to Tajikistan, Avesta reported on July 15.
• Masks are required in public.

Economy

• Tajikistan's external debt grew by $170.9 million in the first half of 2020 to $3.1 billion, the finance minister told journalists on July 29, putting the country's ratio of external debt to GDP at 36.1 percent. The vast majority, $1.1. billion, is owed to China's Eximbank.

• Almost half of the volume of humanitarian aid Tajikistan has received thus far in 2020 has come from China, Asia-Plus reported on July 28, citing the State Statistics Agency. China provided 46.9 percent of the aid, followed by Uzbekistan at 17.4 percent. Farther down the list Russia came in at 4 percent and the United States at 1.8 percent. The government has denied rumors that some of the aid has been illegally sold. 

• Tajikistan has exported 2.7 million masks (worth 2.7 million euros) to Italy and Serbia, Central Asia Media reported on July 28. 

• The number of migrants departing for work abroad fell 57 percent in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period of 2019, the government said on July 23, Asia-Plus reported. 

• The World Bank warned on July 13 that over 41 percent of Tajik households are unable to afford the food they need, a 17 point increase over last year. Over 17 percent of people reported being unable to obtain needed medical care in May. And "less than 2 percent of households report receiving any financial or in-kind support from the government" since the outbreak began. The Bank also found Tajiks poorly informed about COVID-19 compared to neighboring Uzbekistan. 

• Workers at the TALCO aluminum plant, Tajikistan's largest factory, say the virus is running rampant among employees, Asia-Plus reported on July 21. Management denies it.

• The state pension fund is short the equivalent of 53,000 pensioners' annual payments, Asia-Plus reported on July 21. 

• Apartment prices in Dushanbe have fallen by nearly $100 per square meter on average since the pandemic began, Avesta reported on July 17.

• A working group led by representatives of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Administration met in Dushanbe to discuss how Tajikistan’s agriculture sector should respond to damage caused by the pandemic, reported Avesta on July 2. Topics discussed included options for investment following COVID-19 and a new program to promote sustainable agriculture going forward.

TURKMENISTAN

• The country is running out of body bags, RFE/RL reported on July 23.

• A group of Turkmen activists have created an independent tally of COVID deaths in the country.

• The government on July 23 urged people to wash their hands to avoid intestinal infections, Fergana News reported. Authorities continue to deny the pandemic has reached the country. President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov suggested on July 10 that coronavirus may be blown into Turkmenistan by the wind – an excuse that would enable his government to later dismiss charges it had been covering up an outbreak all along.

• After a WHO mission wrapped up on July 15, official media spun the visit as an endorsement of Ashgabat’s success keeping the virus from entering the country. Nevertheless, the messaging on wearing masks and general hygiene has become extremely noticeable and many businesses have been forced to close, we reported on July 21.

• The U.S. Embassy on July 9 doubled down on earlier accounts of receiving “reports of local citizens with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 undergoing COVID-19 testing and being placed in quarantine in infectious diseases hospitals for up to fourteen days.” The last time the Embassy did this, the government fired off a note of protest, but it has not bothered this time.

• Yagshigeldy Kakaev, advisor to the president and former director of the agency on the management and usage of hydrocarbons, died from pneumonia on July 8, reported Central Asia News. Hospitals are reportedly overwhelmed with pneumonia cases, while authorities continue to insist the country is coronavirus-free.

Economy

• Authorities in Ashgabat have begun removing ATMs to prevent crowding, exile-run Turkmen News reported on July 22, making it impossible for people to withdraw their salaries, pensions and child benefits. 

• Turkmenistan Airlines extended the cancellation of all flights through August, Central Asia news reported on July 22. 

UZBEKISTAN

Restrictions

• The government extended lockdown on July 27 through August 15. On behalf of the government, Deputy Prime Minister Behzod Musayev apologized on national television for the imposition. 

• On July 24, the heads of all of Tashkent’s districts went on live television to apologize for what they described as their inability to contain the spread of the virus.

• Doctors say they are being forced to write letters absolving their superiors if they are infected with COVID-19, Radio Ozodlik reported on July 17.

• President Shavkat Mirziyoyev criticized Tashkent's leaders for failing to contain the virus, pointing to other regions in the country where leaders had managed to stabilize the spread of the disease, Avesta reported on July 16.

• The government on July 8 announced a three-week lockdown coming into effect on July 10 in response to the surge in cases that arrived after the last lockdown restrictions were lifted in early June. The movement of vehicles will be limited, travel between regions is to be forbidden for all but essential purposes and mass gatherings are mostly banned. Weddings are not permitted at all, while funerals may be attended by a maximum of 15 people.

• Nearly 4,000 Uzbek citizens who had been camped on the Kazakh border have been allowed to enter Uzbekistan, Kun.uz reported on July 10. Their crossing occurred after extended diplomatic negotiations between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Prior to being allowed to enter their homeland, most of the migrants were sleeping on the ground by the border checkpoint.

Health

• A number of senior Uzbek officials have been infected in recent days: Deputy Prime Minister Uktam Barnoev was diagnosed on July 30, Fergana reported, as was the country's chief sanitary inspector the day before. The Health Minister is out sick, local media reported on July 30. On July 29, Deputy Finance Minister Yorkin Tursunov died of COVID.

• Emergency services in Tashkent are receiving 500 calls a day from people reporting pneumonia-like symptoms, Deputy Prime Minister Behzod Musayev said on July 27.

• The Minister of Health announced that 200,000 packets of the Japanese drug Avigan have been delivered to Uzbekistan to help treat COVID-19 patients, Kun.uz reported on July 16. The Minister called Avigan “one of the most effective treatments” against the disease, although Japanese researchers recently determined that the difference in recovery speed among recipients of the medication was statistically insignificant. 

• Low salaries for health care workers incentivize many of them to work under the table, while the healthcare system is generally disorganized and the quality of care provided is often poor, said a World Bank expert on public health at a government roundtable, Kun.uz reported on July 12.

• The mayor of Tashkent pleaded with residents to take the virus seriously and not go outside unless absolutely necessary, Avesta reported on July 10.

Economy

• The price of a sheep has risen about 67 percent in one year, according to a calculation by local journalists on the Kurban Khayit (Eid al-Adha) holiday, when families with the means are encouraged to sacrifice a sheep. Podrobno.uz reminded readers that the sheep must be purchased with money earned honestly.

• Uzbekistan has received over $1 billion in loans to fight coronavirus so far in 2020 from three multilateral development banks, the Finance Ministry announced on July 28: the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Asian Development Bank.

• Due to the pandemic, Uzbekistan has halted natural gas exports to Russia; exports to China have fallen by two-thirds, Russian media reported on July 16.

• Dozens are complaining that hospitals are coercing them to sign papers saying they spent up to 35 million soms (about $3400) on treatment, even for negative coronavirus tests, reported Fergana on July 15. By one account, hospital workers threatened to cut up the corpse of an elderly woman who had died from COVID-19 if her relatives did not sign a claim that her treatment had cost such an amount. The demands are fueling suspicion of yet another pandemic embezzlement scheme; already several doctors have been arrested for skimming money off of hospital purchases since the start of the outbreak.

• People are purchasing foreign currency at about three times the rate as in the same period of 2019, reported Central Asia Media on July 15.

• About a thousand Uzbek migrants are stranded at the Russian-Kazakh border trying to get home. In stifling temperatures living in the open air, some have been there for weeks. On July 14, Meduza published a detailed and atmospheric dispatch from the camp. 

• About 300 workers from Uzbekistan rioted over unpaid wages at a future gas processing plant in the Russian far east on July 13, local media reported. On July 20, regional investigator's office said it had arrested 11 Uzbek citizens in connection with the riots. 

• Uzbekistan has suffered severe economic damage from the pandemic across many sectors, the UNDP said on July 6. Besides an 18 percent year-on-year drop in exports for the first quarter, about 85 percent of small businesses were forced to close as early as March. Income among the self-employed fell 67 percent. Gender-based violence is on the rise, and in a recent UNDP survey half of female healthcare workers reported feelings of anxiety, depression or burn-out. 

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