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Gulnat Kadirbejeva travels the outskirts of Baikonur in the daily 40 degree heat. Its mission is to deliver water and medicine to people struggling with severe coronavirus symptoms in dark high-rise buildings.
Many of these apartment buildings are decorated with large drawings of rockets. It always reminds Baikonur what this city is for: Russia is launching people into space.
During the day, G. Kadirbejeva works as an administrator in a construction company. But after work, she volunteers with three more friends: Many of the woman’s friends and neighbors get sick and don’t get help at the two hospitals that supposedly officially treat those infected with COVID-19.
Roskosma Fortress
“It feels like we live in a zombie city. Many people get sick and die. We decided to act ourselves, raise funds, and transport the necessary supplies to the homes of the residents, ”says G. Kadirbejeva, 24.
The Soviet Union built the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the steppes of Kazakhstan in 1955, at the start of the Cold War, a race with the Americans that became a symbol of superpower will do more in space.
Photo from 123rf.com/Baikonuro Town
A decade later, the Soviets founded a city specially adapted to the entire project, 40 km from the space center. And after the collapse of the USSR, Russia agreed with Kazakhstan on the lease of Baikonur: in 2005, the agreement was extended until 2050.
In Baikonur, around 40 thousand. population. They all work for the Russian space agency Roskosmos or provide services to its employees.
The city’s coronavirus infection, which is wreaking havoc worldwide, has been a shame. But last week Vladimir Romanov, deputy director of Russia’s federal biomedical agency, unexpectedly announced that 30 people with coronaviruses had died in Baikonur in June alone.
Locals like Kadirbejeva have seen up close that more and more people are sick. But the world only found out about the problem now.
Photo by Scanpix / ITAR-TASS / Dmitry Rogozin
Furthermore, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roskosma himself, spoke the next day. He called the situation in Baikonur “very complicated,” and those words are really strong in Russia, a country accused of minimizing the threat of a coronavirus.
The second wave of infections.
Baikonur first faced the coronavirus in April when the designer of the Energia space and defense corporation, Yevgeny Michin, died of COVID-19. He had previously seen a three-member crew fly to the International Space Station in a Russian capsule.
It is true that a month later, Kazakhstan lifted previously announced restrictions on public life: it was decided that the coronavirus outbreak was already under control.
But then came the second wave of infections and Kazakhstan became an example to other countries of how to do it: hurry up to normal life. On Monday, the state had registered more than 70,000. coronavirus infections, and 585 individuals died.
Reuters / Scanpix Photo / Baikonur Cosmodrome
In addition, in Kazakhstan also reported about 234 thousand. pneumonia cases, 56 thousand. – Only in the first week of July.
Local businessman Esbulat Žetkergenov, who is engaged in transportation, says he receives many calls with requests to transport the bodies of the dead to the cemetery.
Specialists from the World Health Organization believe that pneumonia, which killed 3.3 thousand people this year. people, there are actually undiagnosed COVID-19 infections.
Baikonure infections have also increased, and the coronavirus was reported to have been brought here in early June by seasonal workers from other regions of Kazakhstan. Finally, on June 25, the restrictions were announced again in the city and the curfew is in effect at night.
“It just came to our attention then. The virus spread so fast that we didn’t expect that,” said a nurse at Baikonur’s main hospital.
Reuters / Scanpix photo / Fighting the coronavirus in Kazakhstan
This hospital has 70 beds for the sick and all are occupied. There are more patients who develop coronavirus symptoms, so they don’t fit. The official COVID-19 death toll in Baikonure is 30, but doctors estimate that more than 100 people actually died.
Local businessman Esbulat Žetkergenov, who is engaged in transportation, says he receives many calls with requests to transport the bodies of the dead to the cemetery. Local funeral companies are said to no longer cope.
Where are the Baikonur statistics?
Because Baikonur is an unusual city, statistics are difficult to verify. The settlement is closed even to normal: strangers, including Kazakhs, need a permit. Control points are already installed.
Many people infected with the coronavirus receive treatment at the Central Medical Hospital, which is supervised by the Russian services instead of Kazakhstan. However, it is still unclear to which country the new infections belong, which are confirmed in Baikonur.
As early as June 7, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Minister of Health, Azar Ginijat, had announced that infections in Baikonur were included in the data from the Kyzylorda area of the country.
Photo from Wikipedia / Baikonur City
But official internet statistics don’t include the 30 deaths from coronavirus recorded in Baikonur: COVID-19 killed just seven people in the entire Kyzylorda area. Furthermore, Baikonur data is not available in the official Russian registry.
Local people say they feel that the city is of no interest to anyone. A Roskosma chef, who lost his older brother, asked, “If the deaths are not counted or recorded, which country is responsible for them?”
As soon as Moscow launches its spaceships, we will all be forgotten again. There will be no planes, doctors or medicine.
Ethnic tensions are also increasing. 70 percent. The inhabitants of Baikonur are Kazakhs, others are Russians. Kazakhs complain that Russia sends doctors to care only for its citizens who work for Roskosmos.
“As soon as Moscow launches its spacecraft, we will all be forgotten again. There will be no planes, no doctors, no drugs,” wrote one Internet user, although the Baikonur administration is trying to deny such rumors.
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