Uzbekistan to extend coronavirus lockdown beyond August 1

TASHKENT (Reuters) - Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has agreed with his Cabinet’s proposal to extend a nationwide lockdown beyond Aug. 1 as the coronavirus situation remained "serious" in the Central Asian nation, his office said on Thursday.

Mirziyoyev's office did not say by how long the former Soviet republic of 34 million would extend its second lockdown introduced from July 10 after a surge in the COVID-19 cases.

Uzbekistan has confirmed 18,703 cases of the disease with 105 deaths, figures which jumped in June and early July when the country reopened following its first lockdown and local hospitals quickly filled up.

Neighbouring Kazakhstan has also introduced its second lockdown this month after a botched reopening, and then prolonged it from the initial fortnight to four weeks.

(Reporting by Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by Jane Merriman and Jonathan Oatis)

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