Kazakhstan recording dozen of cases amid vaccine rollout

Kazakhstan has posted its highest daily number of coronavirus cases, as a slow vaccine rollout stokes fears of another nightmare summer in former Soviet Central Asia.

According to official statistics the country posted 2,077 new cases, a record since the beginning of the pandemic.

On Thursday, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev strongly criticised his government's slow vaccine rollout of a locally produced version of Russia's Sputnik V jab, noting that only 47,000 people in the country of 19 million people had been fully vaccinated.

“The reason is simple. Not enough vaccines,” he said, complaining that the situation meant Kazakhstan was “forced to agree to unfavorable commercial and financial conditions to accelerate deliveries”.