Kazakhstan logs pneumonia cases with COVID-19 symptoms

A medical worker wearing protective equipment collects a swab from a womanat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing facility in Almaty, Kazakhstan,July 13, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]

NUR-SULTAN - TheKazakh Health Ministry for the first time reported daily pneumonia cases withCOVID-19 clinical symptoms on Sunday.

The ministrysaid on Aug 1, Kazakhstan logged 1,226 new COVID-19 cases and 5,181 pneumoniacases showing COVID-19 symptoms but with unspecified etiology.

Meanwhile, 36lethal cases from the coronavirus and 30 deaths from pneumonia were registeredover the past 24 hours.

The ministrynoted that the publication of the statistics would help the country makecorrect forecast on the epidemiological situation, allocate resources andensure transparency of statistics.

"Itunderlines the openness of Kazakhstan to jointly confront the coronaviruspandemic and study its consequences for the international community," theministry added.

Kazakhstan hasseen a spike in COVID-19 and pneumonia cases since June. Health MinisterAleksei Tsoi announced on July 17 that starting Aug. 1, pneumonia cases showingclinical signs of COVID-19 would also be registered on a daily basis.

As of Sunday,Kazakhstan has reported 91,593 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 61,839 recoveriesand 829 deaths.