NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan, March 18, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Kazakhstan’s two
largest cities will go on lockdown from Thursday to contain the spread of the
coronavirus with the military assisting in patrolling and disinfecting
efforts, officials said.
Authorities in Almaty, the Central Asian country’s largest city with a
population of around 1.8 million people, said non-residents had three days to
leave the former capital.
“Exit from and entry to the city will be banned,” deputy mayor Yerlan
Kozhagapanov told reporters on Wednesday, adding that residents would have 72
hours to return.
“We are asking residents to keep calm and not to leave their homes if
possible.”
The capital Nur-Sultan, some 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) further north,
will also go on lockdown and be surrounded by roadblocks, authorities said.
The steppe city formerly known as Astana has a population of 1 million
people.
Road travel between cities in the country will be suspended and troops
will help disinfect and patrol Almaty and Nur-Sultan, officials said.
The energy-rich country of 18 million people has reported 36 cases of
the novel coronavirus — all of them in Almaty and Nur-Sultan — but no
fatalities.
It has adopted some of the toughest measures among former Soviet
countries and earlier declared a nationwide state of emergency until April
15.