Today, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, at a video conference on investment, focused on the government’s efforts to counter the coronavirus pandemic, the presidential press service said.

In recent days, the number of patients with coronavirus has increased. It should be noted that the leaders of most provinces and enterprises, our citizens have misunderstood the easing of lockdown measures, are believing that the coronavirus is done, Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

To date 47,000 Uzbeks have returned from abroad. Unfortunately, many of them, especially those who returned in the past two weeks, were tested positive for coronavirus.

It is expected that over the next 10 days another 3.5 thousand people will arrive by air and about 7 thousand through border posts. Another 100 thousand citizens are in line to return to Uzbekistan.

Given the seriousness of the situation in the countries from which they are returning, we should not be getting complacent. Now, 40 districts and cities are in the Red area, and 45 in the Yellow area. What is most worrying is that over the past 10 days there has been an increase in the number of infected people. In particular, 57 people were infected in Navoi, 73 patients in Samarkand, 114 in Tashkent city and Tashkent province, he added.

In addition, the cases of non-observance of social distance have become more frequent, the people are not wearing masks in markets, shopping malls, banks and are holding various mass events at home, he said.

Vigilance and caution are weakening. Such a situation can negate all our efforts to identify, prevent and treat this disease, the effectiveness of trillions of expenses from the budget,” Mirziyoyev emphasized.

Due to the said problems, the Republican Commission, together with the governors, were instructed to review the categories of territories whose epidemiological situation worsened and make proposals to harshen the lockdown measures.

In addition, the Ministry of Health was instructed to increase the number of tests conducted per day in the Red and Yellow area. At the same time, it is necessary to expand control testing in medical facilities, markets, banks and crowded places.