WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2020) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters on Thursday that Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan do not have the capabilities to handle an outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
"We are concerned there are places without adequate infrastructure," Pompeo said regarding the global efforts to counter the coronavirus crisis. "I was in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, places with long borders with China, who also don't have the capability to handle any kind of scaled threat from something like coronavirus."
Pompeo said the United States has provided $100 million in assistance to help address the coronavirus outbreak in China and more aid could on the way.
Some of the aid will also be used to help other countries around the world prepare for the coronavirus threat as well, Pompeo added.
The death toll from the novel coronavirus exceeds 1,350 with some 60,000 people being infected worldwide. The virus has spread to more than 20 countries since it was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December.
