Uzbekistan closes schools, cancels public events after 1st COVID-19 case confirmed

Uzbekistan decided to shut down schools and universities for three weeks from Monday and cancel all public events after the country reported the first confirmed case of COVID-19, the state news agency UzA said Sunday.

Earlier on Sunday, the government said an Uzbek citizen who had returned from France was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease.

The Agency for Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance under the Ministry of Health said that it is taking measures to prevent the virus' spread in the Central Asian country.

Passengers who were on board the plane from Paris to Tashkent with the infected man and everyone who was in contact with him have been identified. Measures to find the individuals and put them under medical supervision are under way, agency director Bahrom Almatov said in a statement broadcast on state TV.

Uzbekistan has stopped flights to a number of foreign cities and barred entry into the country by car, and said it will suspend all international trains soon.

Furthermore, the government has asked all religious institutions to temporarily restrict all events.