ASHGABAT (TCA) — Turkmenistan has approved a World Health Organization (WHO) mission to the country as it grapples with coronavirus infections that the government says don't officially exist, RFE/RL reported.
A spokesperson from the UN health body told RFE/RL that a long-delayed mission to the Central Asian state is expected to occur in early July.
"The mission has been approved and WHO and the Turkmenistan government have worked in the past weeks to overcome logistical challenges to reach the country," the spokesperson said. "We are hoping to get the WHO team on the ground in early July."
In early May, the WHO was forced to cancel a much-anticipated visit to Turkmenistan after failing to receive an official invitation.
Turkmenistan has not reported any COVID-19 cases, even as there are signs that the pandemic is sweeping through the population.
Doctors in the country are not allowed to talk about the coronavirus, face masks are banned, and citizens are punished for talking about the global pandemic.
Medics who were not authorized to publicly discuss the situation told RFE/RL this week that the outbreak is getting "out of control," with new cases being recorded in almost all regions.
Meanwhile, the authorities have set up several quarantine zones around the country and taken other measures in a bid to prevent the spread of what officials call "infectious diseases."
Borders were shut down, flyers distributed urging people to stay vigilant against unnamed respiratory illnesses, and regular disinfections began of public buildings and bus stops.
Authoritarian Turkmenistan is one of the world’s most closed countries, with little or no independent media or freedom of information.
Source: TCA
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