shell out for Daily Star's newsletter. It's FREE! Sign up today for the biggest and brightest stories sent straight to your inbox Kazakhstan has accepted an airlift of 55 tonnes of emergency medical supplies from Russia amid claims a deadly "unknown pneumonia" more dangerous than coronavirus is rampant in the ex-Soviet state.
The Kazakh authorities have denied the Chinese reports suggesting a mystery new strain, but admitted to a worrying surge in pneumonia cases not showing as Covid-19 in tests.Largest city Almaty was put into a total "hard quarantine" lockdown for the weekend with all businesses and markets closed amid concern over soaring infections.