Uzbekistan: plague situation stable, no cause for concern
The sanitary-epidemiological committee reassured the public amid reports of a suspected death in Russia, saying 53 sanitary-quarantine points operate at the borders.
Uzbekistan's Committee for Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare and Public Health said the country's plague epidemiological situation is stable and there is no cause for public concern.
Why it was said now
The statement came amid reports of a suspected plague death in neighbouring Russia. In early October, reports circulated about the death of a woman in Russia's Irkutsk region; the official diagnosis was listed as 'pneumonia of unspecified aetiology,' and Rospotrebnadzor denied any emergency. Even so, Central Asian states — including Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan — tightened sanitary controls at their borders.
Controls at the border
According to Nurmat Atabekov, first deputy chairman of the committee, 53 sanitary-quarantine control points operate at entry points — international airports, railway stations and road crossings. People entering the country are kept under continuous medical observation.
Diagnostic readiness
The committee stressed that regional sanitary-epidemiological laboratories are equipped with the diagnostic tools, reagents and media needed to detect plague and other particularly dangerous infections.
International assessment
The World Health Organization assessed the risk of plague spreading within Russia as low, and as very low for the WHO European Region, which includes Uzbekistan.
