DUSHANBE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th September, 2020) The official statistics of recorded cases of the coronavirus infection in Tajikistan reflect the real epidemiological situation in the country, Aleksandr Semenov, the head of a mission of Russian specialists sent to the Central Asian country, said on Sunday at a briefing.
In late August, the Russian government has decided to send for the second time specialists from the country's consumer rights and human welfare watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, to Tajikistan to help amid the coronavirus pandemic. The first mission to assess the situation over the coronavirus was sent in May.
"I believe that the official statistics of cases of the coronavirus infection, which are kept by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population of Tajikistan, are correct. It reflects the real state of affairs," Semenov, who is also deputy director of the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, said.
According to the professor, the mission's aim in Tajikistan is to increase the level of testing of residents and exchange experience in combating the spread of the coronavirus.
"We want to make testing more accessible for the population of Tajikistan and transfer the knowledge of our experts to local specialists," Semenov added.
In March, media reported distrust of the official statistics of the Tajik Health Ministry on the epidemiological situation, as the authorities insisted that there were no COVID-19 cases in the country. Tajikistan reported the first cases of the coronavirus on April 30.
As of Sunday, the number of those infected in the Central Asian country has reached 8,757, including 7,549 recoveries and 70 fatalities.
