Uzbek Citizens Allowed To Enter Kyrgyzstan At Dostuk Border Point

The Dostuk border checkpoint between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan has allowed Uzbek citizens to enter the country via the Dostuk checkpoint along the border of the two Central Asian nations as of September 1 in a minor easing of some restrictions implemented to battle the coronavirus outbreak.

A spokeswoman for the Kyrgyz Border Guard Service, Gulmira Borubaeva, told RFE/RL that Kyrgyz citizens are still unable to enter Uzbekistan as Tashkent has not dropped its measures barring foreigners from entering the country.

Uzbekistan became the 32nd nation that Kyrgyzstan included on a list of countries whose citizens are allowed to enter the Central Asian nation.

The Kyrgyz government said that the list will be updated twice a month due to the changing situation surrounding the pandemic around the world.

As of September 1, the number of registered coronavirus cases and cases of acute pneumonia with COVID-19-like symptoms in Kyrgyzstan was reported at 43,958, including 1,060 deaths.

In Uzbekistan, health authorities said on September 1 that 41,944 coronavirus cases had been registered in the country since mid-March, of which 322 cases were lethal.