41 new officially confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) were reported in Tajikistan yesterday, bringing a total number of officially confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country to 7,912 as of the evening of August 12, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population (MoHSPP) said.

The number of coronavirus-linked deaths has been reported in the country at 63, according to a MoHSPP.

6,696 (83.8 percent) COVID-19 patients have reportedly recovered as of the evening of August 12, 2020.  43 patients were released from hospitals yesterday after recovery.     

More than 1,000 people in Tajikistan have reportedly been treating COVID-19 at home under supervision of family doctors.    

The Minister of Health and Social Protection of the Population, Jamoliddin Abdullozoda, noted on August 4 that despite the fact that the rate of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection among the population is decreasing in the country, medical workers should stay focused.

The minister ordered to strengthen control over COVID-19 patients who are being treated at home and intensify door-to-door campaign to identify new cases of the coronavirus and prevent the further spread of the disease in the country.  The minister also ordered to strengthen control over providing patients with the necessary drugs. 

The COVID-19 pandemic in Tajikistan is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).  The virus was confirmed to have spread to Tajikistan when its index cases, in Dushanbe and Khujand, were confirmed on April 30, 2020.  

Coronavirus cases around the globe have been reported at 20.4 million as of the evening of August 12, 2020, of which 12.6 million have recovered and 745,000 have died.

Meanwhile, the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates considers that coronavirus pandemic will end 'for the rich world' by the end of 2021, and for the world at large by the end of 2022.

Gates does believe a vaccine eventually will be created, noting that due to scale and manufacturing issues, some of the vaccines under development are likely to only help in wealthier countries.

“It's because of innovation that you don't have to contemplate an even sadder statement, which is this thing will be raging for five years until natural immunity is our only hope,” said Gates.  “This disease, from both the animal data and the phase 1 data, seems to be very vaccine-preventable.”