'Unknown pneumonia' in Kazakhstan could be COVID-19: WHO

New Delhi: The World Health Organisation (WHO), while reacting to the unexplained pneumonia outbreak in Kazakhstan, said that it’s likely due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Dr Michael Ryan from World Health Organisation said that Kazakh authorities have reported more than 10,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past week and 264 deaths in the country.

“We’re looking at the actual testing and the quality of testing to make sure that there haven’t been false negative tests for some of those other pneumonia that are provisionally tested negative,” said Ryan.

Ryan also added that the unknown cases of pneumonia were very likely to be cases of COVID-19 and “just have not been diagnosed correctly.” He further added that WHO is working closely with local health authorities in Kazakhstan to review X-rays and study the pattern of pneumonia cases to check if they match with those of COVID-19 cases.

“While we believe that many of these cases will be diagnosed as Covid-19, we keep an open mind,” said Ryan, adding that a WHO team was already in Kazakhstan.

Also Read: Nagaland: Huge cache of ammunition unearthed near Chedima Village