Kazakhstan's health officials on Friday dismissed a Chinese claim that the Central Asian country is facing an outbreak of pneumonia more deadly than the new coronavirus. The Kazakh denial follows a notice issued Thursday by the Chinese Embassy that warned its citizens about an outbreak of pneumonia in the ex-Soviet nation with a death rate higher than that from coronavirus-induced pneumonia. "This information doesn't conform to reality," Kazakhstan's Health Ministry said in a statement. Mike Ryan, head of the WHO's emergencies program, told journalists on Friday that the cases in Kazakhstan are on WHO's radar. Given the country's surge in COVID-19 cases in the last seven days, there's a likely explanation, he said.

Source: CBC News July 10, 2020 15:32 UTC