DUSHANBE, 18.03.2020. (NIAT Khovar) – The first case of coronavirus has been reported in Kyrgyzstan, reports Kabar news agency citing the Minister of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic Kosmosbek Cholponbaev.

Three people have been tested positive after returning from Saudi Arabia. All three Kyrgyz citizens are in the south of Kyrgyzstan, Cholponbaev told reporters.

He said that these three Kyrgyz citizens arrived in the country after the small Hajj (Umra) in Saudi Arabia on March 12.

The minister noted that 135 citizens arrived together with them on the board of a plane. “We have already found 90 people, they are all isolated, placed on observation,” he said.

On December 31, 2019, the Chinese authorities reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan, an economic and industrial megalopolis with a population of 11 million.

The virus was identified on January 7 as 2019-nCoV. The World Health Organization declared in January that the new coronavirus outbreak was a public health emergency of international concern, characterizing it as an epidemic with multiple locations.

On February 11, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that the organization gave the novel coronavirus an official name of COVID-19. On March 11, the WHO officially stated that the continuously spreading novel coronavirus was a global pandemic.

As of today, 165 countries and territories reported confirmed coronavirus cases. According to the latest reports, over 198,510 cases of patients infected with the novel coronavirus have been confirmed worldwide. The virus’ death toll has reached 7,988, yet more than 82,760 patients have recovered from the disease.