Turkmenistan hospitals closing for quarantine

AKIPRESS.COM - Both maintenance staff and healthcare practitioners of the Ashgabat infectious diseases hospital have been prevented from leaving their workplace to go home for a week and using telephones, Chronicles of Turkmenistan reported with the reference to Azatlyk Radio.
It is reported that the wards are overcrowded with patients diagnosed with acute pneumonia, which is a typical symptom of coronavirus.
The building of the infectious diseases hospital in Turkmenabat has been cordoned off. The medical institution, according to the radio, was shut down for a two-week quarantine after one of the nurses had tested positive for COVID-19.
Personal protective equipment was sent to the Turkmenabat hospital from Ashgabat for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic. According to medical doctors, this might suggest that the situation is quite serious. Healthcare practitioners on a regular basis get tested but they are not informed of the results. According to Radio "Azatlyk", patients get nervous when they see the doctors wearing protective costumes.
The official authorities of Turkmenistan still deny coronavirus cases in the country.
Meanwhile, a two week period during which the WHO mission was scheduled to visit Turkmenistan is expiring today, on 17 June, 2020.
On 3 June, 2020 Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe said that the trip to Turkmenistan would be organized within the next 2 weeks.