At the end of a 10-day mission to Turkmenistan by a team of WHO/Europe experts, WHO recognizes new measures put in place by the country to prevent the transmission of respiratory infections within communities despite not having reported any confirmed COVID-19 cases to WHO at that time. The experts also recommended that the country further activate critical public health measures fundamental to the COVID-19 response: testing all suspect cases, tracing their contacts, and isolating and caring for the sick.
The WHO/Europe team arrived in Turkmenistan’s second-largest city, Turkmenabat, following the Government’s request for help with COVID-19 preparedness and response.
A WHO shipment of essential protective supplies for health-care workers, including face shields, protective goggles, isolation gowns and surgical masks, arrived in the country shortly afterwards.
The team visited hospitals, health centres, laboratories and 4 border crossings, including the international seaport in Turkmenbashi. It recommends that the country scale up surveillance and testing systems and send samples to WHO reference laboratories for confirmatory testing, as many other European countries had done.
Under the International Health Regulations (2005), all countries must report any unusual or unexpected public health events to WHO, regardless of their origin or source. While reporting confirmed COVID-19 cases is the responsibility of Turkmenistan’s Government, the expert team’s recommendation was to act immediately as if COVID-19 was circulating.