Uzbekistan grand mufti Usmonkhon Alimov died on August 15 aged 71 due to the effects of coronavirus infection in hospital No 52 in Moscow, Fergana,news reports citing its sources.

Meanwhile, Uzbek media reports say Usmonkhon Alimov was being treated in Moscow for pneumonia.

UzDaily, citing the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan, says the chairman of the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan, Mufti Usmonkhon Alimov, died at the age of 71. 

Earlier it was reported that Usmonkhon Alimov was being treated for pneumonia in Moscow, according to UzDaily.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reportedly visited the home of the late grand mufti on August 16 to extend condolences to his family.

Usmonkhon Alimov was born in Ishtykhan district of Samarkand region on January 1, 1950.  Usmonkhon Alimov became the grand mufti of Uzbekistan and chairman of the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan in 2006.

Meanwhile, Radio Liberty says this summer has seen an increase in the number of cases of coronavirus in Central Asia.

Kazakhstan reportedly seems to have been hit the hardest, with officials reporting about 8,000 cases daily in early August, four times the number the country was reporting in August 2020 .

Tajikistan has grudgingly admitted the coronavirus is spreading again, after earlier this year Tajik officials declared they had beaten the virus and it was no longer present, and Turkmenistan, in defiance of reason, clings to its tale that there has never been coronavirus in the country.