Kazakhstan Corona virus quarantine

[northinsouth1]

I received a note from the US embassy this morning stating that citizens from the US "will be placed under mandatory health monitoring at their place of residence for 14 days. For 10 days following this period, medical monitoring will continue daily by telephone". Does anyone have anyone have any more information about this? If we're slated to do a tour throughout the country in a couple months, should we worry about being able to travel freely? Thanks for anyone in the know.

[Christian77]

Wow. I thought you must be mistaken. But here we are: kz.usembassy.gov/health-alert-u-s-mission-kazakhstan-february-19-2020/

I would not go to Kazakhstan.

[northinsouth1]

If I was slated to go in March or April, I'd definitely cancel. I'm wondering if I should hold off on cancelling since I'm traveling in late May/June and maybe things will change by then (hopefully!). That said, I also know the longer I wait it out, the less adjustments I might be able to make.

[Milad]

German MFA says the same, the measure affects all travelers from countries with more than 10 cases of 2019-nCoV. Totally absurd, but here we go.

https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/Reis ... eit/206342

[billyh]

That is astonishing, and a huge amount of countries and potential tourists are affected by this. The UK are currently on nine cases, so one more and they'll receive the same treatment.

I'll be flying to Nur-Sultan from Budapest next month on either my British or Irish passport. Happily there are no confirmed cases in Hungary as of today so I should be unaffected, but maybe I should take the Irish passport (also 0 cases) to be safe.

[northinsouth1]

That is astonishing, and a huge amount of countries and potential tourists are affected by this. The UK are currently on nine cases, so one more and they'll receive the same treatment.

I'll be flying to Nur-Sultan from Budapest next month on either my British or Irish passport. Happily there are no confirmed cases in Hungary as of today so I should be unaffected, but maybe I should take the Irish passport (also 0 cases) to be safe.

Yeah, it is pretty significant. I will say that in the US embassy note, they mentioned that it wasn't clear how and if they'll implement it, but poking around the AskCentralAsia reddit board, a few Kazakh commenters mentioned the government is not messing around.

I tend to think by summer, this should calm down, but for next month, you may very well be better off using an Irish Passport.

[Christian77]

Some info released through local media sounds even worse: https://tengrinews.kz/kazakhstan_news/p ... -3-391948/

Category I : Persons arriving from the People's Republic of China. All citizens will be quarantined for 14 days with isolation in a hospital. Then for another 10 days after discharge, they will be monitored by the medical organization at the place of residence.The doctors will monitor their health status by telephone (daily phoning).

Category II : Persons arriving from countries with more than 10 cases of coronavirus infection. Today it is Singapore, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, Germany, USA, France. The list of countries is subject to change.

All persons arriving from these countries will be under home quarantine for 14 days. Their health status will be monitored by a daily visit by a medical professional to a clinic. Then for another 10 days - medical observation in the clinic at the place of residence (daily phoning).

Category III : Persons arriving from countries with less than 10 cases of coronavirus infection. Today it is the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, India, the Philippines, Italy, Spain, Finland, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Belgium, Egypt. The list of countries may also be adjusted.

Arrivals from these countries will be under medical supervision in the clinic at the place of residence for 24 days from the date of crossing the border of Kazakhstan (daily phoning).

[jacoblab1]

Damn, talk about an overreaction. I'm wondering how they'll even attempt to enforce this.

[steven]

This article meanwhile suggests that if you pay you don't have to go into quarantine https://akipress.com/news:635409/

It has been suggested that flying into Bishkek / Tashkent and crossing the border should work to avoid the thing.

[Valikhanov]

Apparently Turkmenistan also implemented a similar quarantine already 2 or 3 days ago.

https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/auss ... eit/206774 (German MoFA)

As for the Kazakh quarantine, I doubt that it will be possible to enforce it for a long time. What about Lufthansa-Crews who stay overnight in Almaty and are supposed to go back the day after? What about businesspeople?
Of course we´ll have to see, but to me it seems like a typical overreaction that will be withdrawn after a while. At least I hope for that