ASHGABAT, TURKMENISTAN (AFP) – Turkmenistan has ordered passenger trains halted from Thursday (July 16) amid reports of coronavirus in the isolated Central Asian country that has yet to declare any cases.

A statement on the state-run railway’s website this week said that local passenger train travel would be suspended for a week from July 16 to July 23, but gave no reason for the stoppage.

Turkmenistan – a tightly-controlled, oil-rich ex-Soviet state – is one of the few countries in the world yet to declare any coronavirus cases.

Its Foreign Ministry last month dismissed as “fake news” a US embassy health alert warning Americans over potential coronavirus cases in Turkmenistan.

On Monday, some people told an AFP journalist that they were being stopped by police for not wearing masks – a stark contrast to the government’s policy of discouraging the practice in recent months.

An announcement by the Health Ministry carried by the state information agency on Monday recommended mask-wearing because of a “high concentrations of dust” and pathogens in the air.

The announcements follow the arrival of a World Health Organisation delegation in Ashgabat last week for a 10-day mission examining the response to the pandemic.

The delegation is due to present the findings of the mission on Wednesday.

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