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The Diplomat (9 July 2020)

By Catherine Putz

On July 8, the government of Uzbekistan announced a second nationwide lockdown would begin on July 10 and run through August 1. The decision comes three days after Kazakhstan began its own second lockdown regime amid mounting cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Both of Central Asia’s largest states face similar tensions

Per official statistics, Uzbekistan has confirmed 10,982 cases of COVID-19 since marking its first case in mid-March. For comparison and contemplation: Neighboring Kazakhstan, a much larger country in territorial terms and much smaller in population terms, surpassed the 50,000 confirmed case mark in recent days. Kazakhstan has an estimated population of 18.7 million; Uzbekistan’s population is around 34 million.

Uzbek officials have denied allegations of purposeful underreporting of cases.

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