Chinese embassy issues alert over new 'unknown' infection 'much deadlier than COVID'

Pneumococcus bacteria can cause infections in many parts of the body, including pneumonia. File photo. Credit: Getty

The Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan has warned its citizens living in the country of local pneumonia of unknown cause which, as per the local media reports, is deadlier than the coronavirus with a higher fatality rate.

Moments after the Chinese embassy posted the notification on its WeChat platform, people started posting and talking about the “unknown pneumonia” on Sina Weibo.

"What has happened to the earth in 2020? First, the COVID-19 and now another pneumonia? All we want for the year is to live safely," wrote a netizen.

The fatality rate of the disease is much higher than COVID-19

So far 1,772 people have died in the first six months of the year, including 628 people in June alone, including Chinese citizens, the embassy said in a statement, reported Global Times.

The fatality rate of the disease is much higher than COVID-19, and organizations including Kazakhstan's health department are studying the "virus of this pneumonia," the embassy said.

On Wednesday, Kazakhstan's healthcare minister said that the number of patients getting sick by the pneumonia is two to three times more compared to those who have been infected with COVID-19.

On March 16, Kazakhstan announced a state of emergency to combat the spread of Covid-19. While the lockdown was lifted on May 11, restrictions and quarantine measures were re-imposed in areas which witnessed a surge in pneumonia cases.

Huge uptick in pneumonia cases

According to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the lockdown helped save multiple lives but “due to mass non-observance of quarantine measures, systemic mistakes of the former leadership of the Health Ministry and incompetence of municipal heads “the country is facing the second coronavirus wave coupled with a huge uptick in pneumonia cases.”

According to SCMP, it remains unclear as to why the embassy called the illness as unknown.

According to the Chinese embassy website, Atyrau and Aktobe provinces and Shymkent city have been reporting spikes in pneumonia cases since the mid-June.

The government sacked health minister Yelzhan Biratnov last month who himself was down with coronavirus following which he was hospitalized.