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Corona in Kazakhstan: An authoritarian transparency offensive

Disinfection of the streets of Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan. Photo: Yakov Fedorov (CC) commons.wikimedia.org

Kazakhstan continues to defy the COVID-19 crisis. Official figures remain encouraging following the government's harsh measures. However, these statistics do not only involve the virus, but also regime critics.

A lack of protective clothing, too few tests and no suitable treatment: Tolkinai Ordabayeva contracted COVID-19 and made some serious accusations. The 29-year old doctor is a specialist in infectious diseases and works in a regional hospital in Southern Kazakhstan. She wrote on Facebook that she had been infected by a patient because of the lack of appropriate equipment: "The hospital administration has forced the medical staff to sew their own masks because at work they do not provide masks or protective clothing."


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