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Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov takes
a holiday as WHO mission finally arrives in Ashgabat
bne IntelliNews
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) long-delayed mission has arrived in Turkmenistan, the WHO said in a statement on July 7.
Turkmenistan is the only Central Asian nation that has not officially registered
a single coronavirus (COVID-19) case. Independent reports have suggested that the real situation in Turkmenistan shows coronavirus (COVID-19) infections have reached all provinces of the country.
The WHO has been attempting to send a mission to Turkmenistan for over two months to investigate the Turkmen government’s claims that the country does not have a single coronavirus case. The delay was a result of travel restrictions imposed over the pandemic, according to Catherine Smallwood, the mission's leader.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Ber- dimuhamedov has decided to go on holi-
day for the duration of the WHO’s visit, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service reported.
Smallwood said her group will work with the Turkmen authorities on
aspects of coronavirus preparedness
and response, including national level co-ordination and control systems, epidemiology and surveillance, infec- tion prevention and control, laboratory services, risk communication and patient management. The mission will be in Turkmenistan for 10 days.
"Turkmenistan managed to establish a national multisectoral COVID-19 task force; approving a COVID-19 Prepared- ness and Response Plan; and developing COVID-19 guidelines for prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Reorganisation of facilities and staff at all levels of the health system is a critical step the gov- ernment has been taking: this includes repurposing facilities and training healthcare workers," Smallwood said.
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