A batch of 3 million doses of the Chinese-Uzbek COVID vaccine, ZF-UZ-VAC2001 was delivered from China to Uzbekistan on Sunday evening, the Ministry of Health said.

Uzbekistan is cooperating with a number of countries on the evacuation of their nationals from Afghanistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The government issued a decision appointing Bekhzot Normatov as the new chairman of Uztransgaz replacing Ulugbek Sayidov, the Ministry of Energy said in a statement.

The First Deputy Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Laziz Kudratov has been appointed the Director General of the newly created Strategic Development Agency.

The Defense Industry Committee is planning to attract Chinese technologies in joint projects, the Committee said in a statement.

The first deputy Kokand city mayor, A.N., was detained, Xabar.uz reported, citing a source in law enforcement agencies.

A Lockheed C-130H Hercules military aircraft of the Polish Air Force delivered 50 people from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan on August 18, PAP reported, citing Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz.

As per the instruction of the chairman of Uzbekneftegaz, Mehriddin Abdullayev, work is underway to create a geographic database of pipelines and producing fields, the company said in a statement.

The surgeons of the Republican Specialized Scientific-Practical Medical Center of Surgery named after Academician V. Vahidov successfully performed an orthotopic liver transplantation surgeries.

On August 18, the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev had a telephone conversation with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the presidential press service reported. The leaders discussed the situation in the region against the backdrop of events in Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan has accommodated more than 100 Afghan refugees in a tent camp in the Termez district of the Surkhandarya province near the border with Afghanistan.

The Tashkent's domestic flights airport (Tashkent-3) will be closed for certain period from August 19 for technical reasons, Uzbekistan Airways said. 

The Ministry of Health reported of a record daily 851 people diagnosed with coronavirus and 398 with pneumonia in Uzbekistan yesterday. "As of August 17, 2021, the number of registered coronavirus infections in Uzbekistan stands at 145,615 (+851)," the report said.

The President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a telephone conversation with the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on August 17, the presidential press service said.

The Taliban held their first official news conference in Kabul on Tuesday since the shock seizure of the city, declaring they wanted peaceful relations with other countries and would respect the rights of women within the framework of Islamic law.

Media reports about the alleged presence in Uzbekistan of some public figures and leaders of ethnic groups of Afghanistan do not correspond to reality, Dunyo news agency, which is owned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, said in a statement.

Uzbekistan Airways resumed the Tashkent to London regular flight, the company said in a statement. Reportedly, starting from August 17, Uzbekistan Airways has resumed the regular Tashkent to London flight.

On August 17, the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree increasing salaries, pensions, student allowances and benefits by an average of 10% from September 1.

The sambo fighter Elbek Rakhimov was killed in Kashkadarya province, which was confirmed by the press service of the General Prosecutor's Office.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Afghanistan, saying that "Uzbekistan is closely following the development of the situation" in Afghanistan.