Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan warns of pneumonia outbreak, calls it deadlier than COVID-19

Reuters photo

The Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan has issued a warning its citizens to take precautions against an outbreak of pneumonia in the country. The embassy in a statement late on Thursday said that there had been a "significant increase" in cases and even claimed that it is more lethal than novel coronavirus COVID-19 infection.

In Kazakhstan around 1,772 people have been killed due to pnuemonia in the first half of the year, with 628 deaths reported in June alone, including Chinese citizens.

"The mortality rate of the disease is much higher than that of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus," the embassy statement said.

Most of the cases have been reported from the cities of Atyrau, Aktobe and Shymkent since mid-June.

According to a Tuesday report by Kazinform, the state news agency of Kazakhstan, the number of pneumonia cases "increased 2.2 times in June as compared to the same period of 2019".

While the number of pneumonia cases in the capital city Nursultan have more than doubled in June 2020 from the same time last year, Kazinform quoted official data.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan has recorded more than 50,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 264 deaths. The number of new cases rose to a daily record of 1,962 on Thursday, Kazinform reported.

The embassy added that Kazakhstan`s health ministry are carrying out a "comparative study" to find if the two viruses, virus casuing pneumonia and the coronavirus, are related. But no conclusive report has been made yet.