Chinese Embassy warns of unknown lung disease “more deadly than coronavirus”

A warning from the Chinese embassy about a lung disease in Kazakhstan that would be more deadly than Covid-19 has been dismissed by the latter. The Chinese Embassy in the Central Asian neighboring country of Kazakhstan reports that there has been a “significant increase” in pneumonia since mid-June.

“The mortality rate of this disease is much higher than that of the new coronavirus. And the virus leading to this disease has yet to be identified,” the Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan warned. It is estimated that 1,722 people have already died from such pneumonia, caused by the new virus. Among the dead would also be Chinese.

Whether the Chinese refer in their statement to a virus related to the new coronavirus, or another virus strain is not clear. According to the Chinese embassy, the Kazakh authorities are conducting a comparative study.

“Fake news”

“Fake News”, was the reaction of the Kazakh Ministry of Health to the reports in the Chinese media based on the embassy’s statements. According to the Ministry, the pneumonia was caused by known bacteria, fungi, and viruses.

“The information published by some Chinese media about a new type of pneumonia in Kazakhstan is incorrect,” according to the Ministry.

Kazakhstan, which this week for the second time introduced strict measures to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, has so far registered almost 55,000 cases of infection and 264 deaths from the coronavirus. The number of new cases of infection in the last 24 hours, yesterday, stood at a record high of 1,962.