NUR-SULTAN, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has announced an extention of the country's pandemic-related state of emergency until May 11, the press service of the head of state said Monday.

"The state of emergency will be abandoned on May 11 unless a new massive outbreak of the COVID-19 takes place. I hope it (will) not happen," said Tokayev, adding that the country has yet to pass the peak stage of infection.

Tokayev has instructed the healthcare ministry to increase testing volumes to 20,000-25,000 tests per day by boosting domestic production of testing systems as soon as possible. To date, over 205,000 COVID-19 tests have been carried out in Kazakhstan.

At the same time, Kazakh authorities have decided to ease some coronavirus-related restrictions in the coming days, in particular, renewing flights between Nur-Sultan and Almaty from May 1. Meanwhile, Industrial plants, construction projects, logistics companies, banks and public service centers would be the first business operations to be allowed to resume.

"It is necessary to respect sanitary regulations and carry out regular disinfection of (the) workplace. In everyday life, you need to adhere to the rules of social distancing," said Tokayev.

Kazakhstan reported its first cases of COVID-19 on March 13, declaring a state of emergency soon after, including the lockdown of its major cities.

Kazakhstan has tallied 2,791 COVID-19 cases as of Monday, including 25 fatalities. Enditem

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