WHO clears air on 'unknown pneumonia' in Kazakhstan as China calls it deadlier than COVID

Issuing statement on the 'unknown virus' found in Kazakhstan, WHO has said that it might be the novel Coronavirus, citing that there was a big surge of COVID cases in the country recently. WHO official Michael Ryan issued the statement after the Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan warned about the unknown virus. Ryan added that the WHO is working with authorities in Kazakhstan to investigate the potential of the virus and to identify it. 

This comes after Kazakhstan's Ministry of Healthcare on July 10 dismissed a report of the Chinese Embassy about an 'unknown pneumonia'. "The Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan emphasizes that the reports of the Chinese media are not consistent with reality. It is important to note that WHO introduced pneumonia codes into the International Classification of Diseases - ICD 10, in cases when COVID-19 is diagnosed clinically or epidemiologically, for example with the 'ground-glass' opacities in the affected lungs, but is not laboratory-confirmed. In this regard, Kazakhstan, like other countries of the world, keeps records and monitoring of this kind of pneumonia, in order to make timely managerial decisions aimed at stabilizing the incidence and prevalence of COVID-19," the release by Ministry of Healthcare added.

China warns about unknown pneumonia in Kazakhstan

The Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan posted a notice on July 9 warning its citizens in the country about a new 'unknown pneumonia', possibly more lethal than COVID-19. Chinese Embassy in its notice claimed that the death rate of the new disease was much higher than that of Coronavirus. The embassy said that Kazakhstan's health ministry is yet to identify the virus that has reportedly claimed more than 1,700 lives in the central Asian country. The Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan cited local media reports in its notice and claimed that the unknown pneumonia cases are being reported in the provinces of Atyrau and Aktobe and the city of Shymkent. 

READ | China warns citizens in Kazakhstan of 'unknown pneumonia' more lethal than COVID-19

This comes as China is facing the heat from the world community for concealing information about Coronavirus that has till now claimed 562,889 lives worldwide and has infected 12,631,067 people. The WHO has also faced the ire of Donald Trump administration for not investigating China's initial statements on Coronavirus and its potential. 

READ | 'Fake news': Kazakhstan shuns China's warning about 'unknown pneumonia' worse than COVID