“In recent days, the number of coronavirus cases has increased in our country. It should be noted that the leaders of most regions and enterprises, our citizens do not correctly perceive the mitigation of quarantine measures, mistakenly thinking that the disease supposedly passed,” the head of state said.

As the presidential press service reported, to date, 47 thousand citizens of Uzbekistan have been returned from abroad. Unfortunately, many of them, especially those who returned in the past two weeks, tested positive for coronavirus. Almost 50 percent of patients across the country are people who have arrived from abroad.

It is expected that over the next 10 days another 3.5 thousand people will arrive through charter flights and about 7 thousand through border posts. At the same time, more than 100 thousand citizens have expressed a desire to return to Uzbekistan and are waiting for their turn.

“Today, 40 districts and cities are classified as a “red” zone, and 45 – as a “yellow” zone. What is most worrying is that over the past 10 days there has been an increase in the number of infected people among the general public. In particular, 57 people were infected in Navoi, 73 – in Samarkand, 114 – in the capital and Tashkent region,” the President said.

In addition, cases of non-observance of social distance, especially in markets, shopping malls, banks, street walks without medical masks, and various public events at home, have occurred more frequently.

“Vigilance and caution are weakening. Such negligence can bring all our efforts down, our work to identify, prevent and treat this disease, huge money we spent from the budget may go in vain,” Mirziyoyev emphasized.

Based on the above problems, the Special Republican Commission, together with the regional khokims, was given a day to review the categories of territories whose epidemiological situation worsened and make proposals to strengthen quarantine measures.

In addition, the Ministry of Health was instructed to increase the number of analyzes conducted per day in the “red” and “yellow” zones. At the same time, it is necessary to expand control testing in medical institutions, markets, banks and crowded places.

It should be recalled that on May 5, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at a videoconference instructed to gradually weaken the quarantine regime in the country.