JUNE 9 2021 (The Bulletin) — Around a third of Tbilisi’s 1m residents have been infected with the coronavirus, Tengiz Tsertsvadze, head of the Infectious Diseases and AIDS Centre, told media. He also said that two-thirds of the people who had been infected were asymptomatic and didn’t even know that they had been infected.
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— This story was published in issue 487 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 9 2021
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021
JUNE 9 2021 (The Bulletin) — Indian tour agencies are offering workers trying to return to jobs in the UAE a two-week package stay in Yerevan to fit in with coronavirus rules imposed by the UAE, media reported. The UAE has banned flights directly from India because of a coronavirus variant but has said that Indian workers can enter after a two-week quarantine in a third country. Armenia has loose coronavirus restrictions and has become a preferred option.
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— This story was published in issue 487 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 9 2021
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021
JUNE 4 2021 (The Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has dropped negotiations with British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to buy its coronavirus vaccine because of the negative press surrounding it. Some countries have suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine because of blood clots in younger people. Russia’s Sputnik-V and its domestically produced QazVac form the basis of the Kazakh vaccination programme.
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— This story was published in issue 487 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 9 2021
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021
JUNE 3 2021 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan said that it would waive coronavirus quarantine rules for football fans travelling to Baku for the delayed European Championship 2020. Baku hosts four games, including a quarterfinal match. For the first time, the European Championships matches are spread across the continent.
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— This story was published in issue 487 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 9 2021
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021
MARCH 11 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan, which has begun a mass vaccination scheme against the coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 disease, said that it had now ordered batches of Sputnik-V, the Russia-made vaccine, and the AstraZeneca vaccine. Sputnik-V was the first recognised vaccine for the disease. Some European countries have stopped using the AstraZeneca vaccine because of worries that it triggers blood clots.
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— This story was published in issue 475 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on March 15 2021
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MARCH 10 (The Bulletin) — The Kazakh authorities said that coronavirus cases were worsening in both Nur Sultan and Almaty as it placed them both on its infection red list. Last week, the authorities had declared that the coronavirus was on the wane across the country. Nur Sultan and Almaty are the only cities in Kazakhstan on the red list.
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— This story was published in issue 475 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on March 15 2021
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021
MARCH 9 (The Bulletin) — Despite not acknowledging a single case of the coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 disease, Turkmenistan has accepted batches of a China-made vaccine. It has already approved the use of the Sputnik-V Russia-made vaccine. Most Central Asian countries have accepted supplies of both the Russian and Chinese vaccines, reflecting the geopolitical struggle over the region.
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— This story was published in issue 475 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on March 15 2021
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021
MARCH 6 (The Bulletin) — Although some bars and restaurants have now been allowed to reopen, there were more protests in Georgia against the government’s anti-coronavirus 9pm – 5am curfew. Georgia has seen some of the most dogged protests against its government’s coronavirus restrictions.
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— This story was published in issue 475 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on March 15 2021
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021
MARCH 2 2021 (The Bulletin) — The authorities in Kazakhstan said that the country was effectively in a self-declared coronavirus infection green zone with no cities reporting data that placed them in the red zone and only five cities or regions — Nur-Sultan, Akmola, West Kazakhstan, Kostanay and Pavlodar — in the yellow zone. Kazakhstan has reported 2,800 deaths linked Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
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— This story was published in issue 474 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on March 5 2021
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021
MARCH 1 2021 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan approved a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Chinese Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical Co ltd for use under the label ZF-UZ-VAC2001. The Chinese company had been trialling its vaccine in Uzbekistan for several months.
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— This story was published in issue 474 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on March 5 2021
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021