The World Health Organization (WHO) is allowed to carry out independent coronavirus tests in Turkmenistan. President Gurbanguli Berdimuchamedow had given the organization permission to do so, the WHO said yesterday. Turkmenistan continues to assert that it does not have a single case of infection. The WHO, on the other hand, warned of an increasing number of cases of pneumonia in the former Soviet republic.
The WHO told Berdimuchamedov during a telephone conversation that the organization would like to take samples in the country. These should then be examined in WHO laboratories. „The President agreed,“ wrote Hans Kluge, WHO European Director, on Twitter. In addition, the head of state had been told that the WHO was „seriously concerned“ about the cases of pneumonia in Turkmenistan.
Citizens prevented from wearing masks
A WHO delegation had already visited the Central Asian state in July and advised the authorities at the time to take measures to trace contacts. The organization did not say whether the WHO assumes that the government in Turkmenistan is covering up coronavirus cases.
In mid-July, the authorities called for the first time to wear protective masks – because of the „high concentration of dust in the air“. In June, the Turkmen State Department dismissed a warning from the US embassy to its citizens as a „false report“. In the previous months, the police had prevented citizens from wearing the protective masks. At major events organized by the government, which observers classified as highly repressive, nobody was seen wearing a mask.
