[KABAR] Virus that changed life of Kyrgyz people

By Nurzhan Kasmalieva, Kabar News Agency

Since the outbreak of coronavirus infection in Kyrgyzstan, the life of people has changed notecably. The residents of Kyrgyzstan started to be anxious, when the novel coronavirus infection was registered in neighboring countries as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. People started to buy food products, medical masks, sanitizers in big amounts, scaring that there will be no imports if the borders are closed. The country’s health authorities announced on March 18 the first confirmed cases of COVID-19. The change in the usual routine of life started when the authorities of the country announced a state of emergency and locked down two main cities and several regions, where the virus outbreak was registered. A government-set a curfew from 8:00 pm-6:00 a.m. and during the day time the movement around the city was allowed only in three cases: visit to drugstore, medical facility and supermarkets. The lockdown in Bishkek lasted for one and half month. Empty streets of the capital city during the lockdown. April 19, 2020 All the journalists in Kyrgyzstan worked remotely, covering new from online briefings. I stayed at home all the time, except going to nearby supermarket once a week to buy a food. The quarantine gave me to understand the deep meaning of the word Freedom. I realized that till the lockdown I never thought of the freedom. The most difficult thing for me during the lockdown was the restriction of movement. As the economic activity was almost fully stopped in the country and many organizations suspended their work a lot of people stayed without income. One of the Bishkek residents Inessa Khan, who works as a hairdresser for a long time, also didn’t work during the quarantine. She said that it was very difficult for her and her colleagues, whose income depends on their daily work. “Everybody survived, as they could,” Inessa said. To feed her family, Inessa tried to make dumplings and sell them via delivery service, as the public transportation, taxi services, bus circulation between regions was also banned. She said that this virus has changed all her plans and her attitude to many things. Inessa said that from now on she will never be like before. For the Kyrgyz people, who used to organize festivities with a big amount of people, it was unusual to stay at home and not to conduct gatherings. It was a life-changing experience for the Kyrgyz people. In spite of all restrictions, there were people who managed to get married. A young people in love, Sherbol and Nargiza from Kochkor village of Kyrgyzstan, got married during the quarantine without any wedding ceremonies. However, the young couple plans to organize a wedding party when the situation improves. Kyrgyz people usually invite many guests not only for festivities, but also for funerals. In spite of ban of mass gatherings by authorities, some people attended such events and there were cases when the people were infected with COVID-19 during such events. My father, whose friend died during the lockdown, was very upset that he couldn’t lead his friend on the last journey. For Kyrgyz people, who honor traditions very highly, especially for older generation, it was very unusual. The most of all it was not easy for medical workers, who haven’t see their families almost for months. Medical observation in Bishkek organized at Ak-Keme Hotel. April 2020 My cousin Gulnara was one of them. She worked in a medical observation facility in Bishkek for 14 days and she herself was under medical observation for 14 days. She is one of the doctors, who voluntarily agreed to work in observation facilities. She formed her team of 11 people and worked in one of the medical observations of the capital city, where our compatriots were placed, who arrived from various countries. The team consisted mainly of young doctors, who also voluntarily agreed to serve for people. Gulnara said that they didn’t expect that the work in the observation would be so heavy. She said that sometimes there was no time to have a launch or to sleep. “Especially it was difficult when our countrymen returned back from Turkey,” she said adding that 60 percent of them were nationals, who returned back after surgery operations, transplantations or receiving treatment there. One of my colleagues Ibraim Nurakun uulu, the head of the press service of the Parliament, who is receiving treatment in a hospital after his test was positive for coronavirus infection, also told about the difficult work of doctors working with COVID-19 patients. A hospital in Tokmok town. Ibraim Nurakun uulu with his doctor. June 21, 2020 He said that he noticed that many of the medical personnel of the hospital in spite of their young age are good specialists. “We can’t see their faces because of protective suits, but they are very kind, polite, and always support and encourage patients,” Ibraim noted adding that such an attitude of the personnel assists in sooner recovery. He also said that many medical workers contracted the virus during their work and in the hospital where, he is receiving treatment all the laboratory workers were infected. Currently, the epidemiological situation in the country is tense, the number of people contracted COVID-19 has been growing and exceeded 4 thousand in the small country with a population of 6 million people. Anyway, since its outbreak this virus and the lockdown, imposed to curb the epidemic, has changed many people’s world view, way of thinking, attitude to medical workers, to their health. I believe that someday it will come to the end and we defeat this disease.