Kazakhstan accused China of fabricating reports of an outbreak of pneumonia more deadly than COVID-19

A police officer reads the temperature of a man in a face mask at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan, in March 2020. 

Pavel Aleksandrov\TASS via Getty Images

• Kazakhstan said China falsely claimed that the country is dealing with an "unknown pneumonia" that is deadlier than COVID-19.
• China's embassy in the country warned about a pneumonia "much deadlier" than COVID-19, and warned citizens to take action to protect themselves.
• It said that China has misinterpreted its statistics about suspected COVID-19 cases, and instead characterized them as a mysterious new virus.

Kazakhstan is accusing China of making false claims that Kazakh authorities are dealing with an "unknown pneumonia" that is deadlier than COVID-19.

China's embassy in Kazakhstan warned Chinese citizens in the country on Thursday that this new pneumonia was "much deadlier" than the coronavirus pandemic.

Writing on social media app WeChat, the embassy said there had been a "significant increase" in cases of the new disease since mid-June, Reuters reported.

It said in its statement that "Kazakhstani Health Department and other agencies are conducting comparative research and have not defined the nature of the pneumonia virus," according to CNN.

But Kazakhstan's health ministry on Friday dismissed reports about it in Chinese media, saying in an English-language statement that "this information IS NOT CONSISTENT WITH REALITY."

Kazakhstan's health ministry branded a headline about an "unknown pneumonia" as "FAKE NEWS." 

Kazakhstan Ministry of Healthcare

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/kazakhstan-says-china-claims-virus-more-deadly-covid-19-false-2020-7