419 people were released from two hospitals in the Khatlon province on April 16 after a 21-day quarantine.  A part of them were in quarantine at the infectious diseases hospital in Kulob and others were in quarantine at the central regional hospital named after Bouri Vohidov in Bokhtar, the capital of Khatlon province.  

“398 of those released people arrived from Moscow by special flights from March 24 to March 26,” Mirali Rajabzoda, the head of the Khatlon Directorate for Health and Social Protection of the Population, told Asia-Plus in an interview. 

“Besides, 18 drivers, two employees of the Kulob airport and one policeman, who had contact with them, were quarantined together with them,” Rajabzoda said.

According to him, 49 people are still in quarantine at those two hospitals.   

In all, 672 people were reportedly quarantined after arriving from abroad between February 1 and April 16; 622 of them have already been released and none of those released had the coronavirus.

Recall, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population on April 13 announced the death of Oishamoh Alimova, a 58-year-old cleaner of the Khatlon regional central hospital in Bokhtar.  The official cause of death, which occurred on April 12, was given as complications arising from tuberculosis and heart problems.

Meanwhile, Eurasianet says her relatives deny she had tuberculosis, but confirm she suffered weak heart.   

Alimova was reportedly among multiple employees being required to live in the hospital together with people who had been placed there under isolated observation after returning from abroad in the wake of the intensification of the global coronavirus pandemic. 

The Tajik Health Ministry insists that, as of April 17, there has not been one confirmed case of the coronavirus infection in the country.