A pandemic, by definition, reaches everybody. There are now reports that the coronavirus has reached Turkmenistan, one of the world's most isolated and closed states. In recent years, the gas-rich desert state has suffered a protracted economic downturn, leaving observers to wonder how Turkmenistan's public services will cope with a full-blown humanitarian emergency.
True to form, Turkmen officialdom is keeping quiet about bad news on the horizon. They have barely mentioned the word “coronavirus,” which has not appeared on any government website after one cursory mention on March 5. That same day, citing medical sources in the capital Ashgabat, RFE/RL's Turkmenistan service wrote that there are probably at least two confirmed coronavirus cases in the country.
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