- Title: China's Kazakhstan embassy warns citizens of pneumonia deadlier than COVID-19
- Date: 10th July 2020
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (JULY 10, 2020) (REUTERS) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN ZHAO LIJIAN ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN, ZHAO LIJIAN, SAYING: "For the issue you mentioned, please refer to the relevant authorities in Kazakhstan. China also hopes to obtain information on this. China hopes to meet Kazakhstan halfway, and jointly fight against the pandemic to safeguard the public health of our two countries." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS CHINA'S FOREIGN MINISTRY CHINESE NATIONAL FLAG FLYING VARIOUS OF COMPUTER SCREEN SHOWING WARNING ON CHINA'S KAZAKHSTAN EMBASSY WEBSITE
- Embargoed: 24th July 2020 09:38
- Keywords: COVID-19 China - Kazakhstan Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan pneumonia
- Location: BEIJING, CHINA
- City: BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001CM86S7B
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: China's embassy in Kazakhstan has warned its citizens on Thursday (July 9) to take precautions against an outbreak of pneumonia in the country that it says is more lethal than COVID-19.
It said in a statement on its official website late on Thursday that there had been a "significant increase" in cases in the cities of Atyrau, Aktobe and Shymkent since mid-June.
On Friday (July 10), however, Kazakhstan's healthcare ministry branded Chinese media reports based on the embassy statement as "fake news".
The ministry said its tallies of bacterial, fungal and viral pneumonia infections, which also included cases of unclear causes, were in line with World Health Organisation guidelines.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian declined to comment on the issue directly during a Friday (July 10) briefing in Beijing, instead referring media to "the relevant authorities in Kazakhstan".
"China also hopes to obtain information on this," Zhao said.
Kazakhstan, which imposed a second lockdown this week to rein in the coronavirus pandemic, has a tally of almost 55,000 COVID-19 infections, including 264 deaths. The number of new cases rose on Thursday to a daily record of 1,962.
On Tuesday (July 7), state news agency Kazinform said the number of pneumonia cases "increased 2.2 times in June as compared to the same period of 2019".
In its statement, the Chinese embassy had said pneumonia in Kazakhstan killed 1,772 people in the year's first half, with 628 deaths in June, including Chinese citizens.
It is unclear whether the penumonia it referred to was caused by a virus related to coronavirus or a different strain.
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