44 new officially confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) were reported in Tajikistan yesterday, bringing a total number of the officially confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country to 6,878 as of the night of July 19, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population (MoHSPP).

1,243 patients are reportedly in an active phase of the disease.

MoHSPP says 5,578 (81 percent) COVID-19 patients have recovered as of the night of July 19, 2020.  49 coronavirus survivors were reportedly discharged from hospitals yesterday.

According to a MoHSPP, an official number of the coronavirus-linked deaths in the country has reached 57.  

The COVID-19 pandemic in Tajikistan is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).  The virus was confirmed to have spread to Tajikistan when its index cases, in Dushanbe and Khujand, were confirmed on April 30, 2020.

Meanwhile, governments in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are adding pneumonia cases most likely caused by the coronavirus to their overall pandemic totals even though they were undetected at the time.

The move, which will cause a jump in virus-related deaths, comes as many Central Asian nations struggle to curb the spread of the virus after easing restrictions.

Kazakh Health Minister Aleksei Tsoi said on July 17 that the number of people killed in Kazakhstan by pneumonia so far in 2020 was 3,327, out of a total of 234,000 cases in the country.

Tsoi added that in the same period last year, the number of people killed by pneumonia was 1,896.

As of July 19, the number of coronavirus cases in Kazakhstan was reported at 70,339, including 464 deaths, according to RIA Novosti. .

In neighboring Kyrgyzstan, the number of coronavirus cases in the country reportedly reached 26,532 as of July 19, of whom 1003 people died, RIA Novosti says. 

TASS reports that the second stage of testing of Russian COVID-19 vaccine will conclude on August 3.

The first stage of testing of a Russian vaccine against the novel coronavirus developed at the N. F. Gamaleya Federal Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology went successfully, and the second stage will conclude on August 3, 2020, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriyev said during an online press conference on July 16.

According to the RDIF, Russia will produce about 30 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2020, with the required amount of 50 million doses. The full vaccination of Russians may be complete by early 2021.

Globally, about 200 million doses of vaccines are expected to be produced by the end of 2020, according to TASS.