According to the data from the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population (MoHSPP), 32 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 13,237 as of the evening of December 28.   

The number of coronavirus-linked deaths remains the same in the country – 90, a MoHSPP says.

34 COVID-19 patients were reportedly discharged after recovery yesterday.  In all, 12,726 (95.8 percent) coronavirus patients have reportedly recovered in the country as of the evening of December 28.  

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.      

COVID-19 has now reached every continent after Antarctica recorded its first outbreak on December 20.

The virus is reportedly affecting 218 countries and territories around the world and two international conveyances.

Meanwhile, authorities in Kazakhstan said yesterday they had signed a preliminary agreement with Pfizer to potentially buy the vaccine it developed with its partner BioNTech against COVID-19.

“Today we signed a non-disclosure agreement with Pfizer, and we are ready to deal with the supplies of these vaccines on the territory of Kazakhstan by issuing special permits,” Deputy Health Minister Marat Shoranov said at a briefing, according to Kazakh media reports.  

“Everything will depend on the production capacity and the company’s ability to supply the drug to our country.”

Pfizer and BioNTech announced in November that its vaccine had been tested to be 95 percent effective in preventing COVID-19, according to a preliminary analysis from a Phase 3 clinical study.

Kazakhstan has started producing Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund said last week.  Sputnik says Kazakhstan is planning to register Sputnik V vaccine by February 

Kazak health authorities said yesterday 152,460 infections and 2,196 deaths have been reported in the country since the start of the pandemic.