The number of officially confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Tajikistan has exceeded 13,000.

According to the data from the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population (MoHSPP), 36 new officially confirmed cases of the 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 13,034 as of the evening of December 22.  

The number of coronavirus-linked deaths remains the same in the country – 89, a MoHSPP says.

41 COVID-19 patients were reportedly discharged after recovery yesterday.  In all, 12,496 (95.8 percent) coronavirus patients have reportedly recovered in the country as of the evening of December 22. 

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.      

The coronavirus COVID-19 is reportedly affecting 218 countries and territories around the world and two international conveyances.

Meanwhile, citing the Bloomberg COVID-19 Tracker, The Diplomat reported on December 21 that Uzbekistan has made a deal to purchase 70 million doses of vaccines from Gamaleya, the developer of Sputnik V — Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine — which is enough to cover the entire Uzbek population in a two-dosage vaccination.  It seems Uzbekistan will not use the Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical vaccine it is testing, but will use a vaccine that is already available from Russia. 

Interfax says Russia will supply Uzbekistan with one million doses of 'Sputnik V' vaccine for its nationals planning to travel to Russia to work as labor migrants.