A foreigner has been hospitalized with COVID-19 ad 15 Tajik nationals have been hospitalized with what doctors diagnosed as pneumonia in Khujand.

A national of Yemen who arrived in Dushanbe from Tashkent on May 7 has been tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Yemeni national Mansour Ali Qasem, who has relatives in Tajikistan, has reportedly arrived in Uzbekistan from Saudi Arabia.

After a month of staying in Uzbekistan, Mansour Ali Qasem traveled to Tajikistan to see his relatives. 

Saltanat Muminova, a close relative of Mansour Ali Qasem, told Asia-Plus yesterday evening that he was hospitalized in Khujand three days ago.

According to her, he was tested for coronavirus twice and both tests were positive.

At the same time, she noted that when Mansour arrived in Dushanbe from Tashkent on May 7 his test for COVID-19 was negative.  

“He wanted to travel to Khujand and we arrived here.  Mansour spent only one night in Buston Hotel when he felt unwell.  He went to the laboratory to get tested for COVID-19.  The test was positive,” said Saltanat Muminova.  “If he had had the virus when entering our country, then all our family would have been infected within 10-12 days.  But so far, family members have no symptoms.”   

Meanwhile, Rustam Bouriyev, the head physician of the Khujand infectious diseases hospital, in which the Yemeni nationals is undergoing treatment, says “Mansour Ali Qasem has no symptoms of coronavirus and he is under the supervision of doctors.”  

According to him, 15 people have been taken to the Khujand infectious diseases hospital over the past week due to high fever.  “All of them contracted seasonal pneumonia,” Bouriyev said.

The Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population (MoHSPP) says no cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the country since the beginning of the year.