Coronavirus Outbreak: Turkmenistan, North Korea, Tajikistan among 5 countries with zero COVID-19 cases; here's why

In less than four months, the novel coronavirus has killed 75,000 and infected nearly 13 lakh people. Governments are imposing lockdown and asking people to practice social distancing, but there are some countries that claim to have not been hit by the pandemic. Turkmenistan Turkmenistan surprisingly has not reported a single case of coronavirus. A report by BBC quoted Professor Martin McKee from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine saying that official health statistics from Turkmenistan are “notoriously unreliable”. Professor Martin McKee, who has studied the Turkmen healthcare system, said that for the past decade Turkmenistan claims to have not a single patient of HIV/AIDS, “a figure that is not plausible”. [caption id=“attachment_8194651” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The novel coronavirus. Image credit Shutterstock[/caption] Earlier, Reporters Without Borders had revealed that Turkmenistan has banned the use of the word coronavirus in official documents and in media. Tajikistan: The central Asian country claims to be unaffected by the deadly virus. The country has also started a new football season and the match was played without fans. The stadium had a large banner reading “stop coronavirus”. In March, Tajikistan had also imposed a ban on entry of citizens of 35 countries. North Korea: Another country that claims to have not reported a single case of coronavirus is North Korea. North Korea had sealed its borders by the end of January, days after China started to report a rise in coronavirus cases and deaths. Follow LIVE updates on the coronavirus outbreak here A report in Los Angeles Times said that the claim is far-fetched since it shares such a massive boundary with China, the place where it all began. Yemen: The conflict-ridden Arab nation is another country that has not reported any COVID-19 cases so far. But how long will the country be safe from the deadly pandemic is a wait and watch game. For the past five years, Yemen has seen a civil war. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warned that with COVID-19, Yemen will face a new, merciless enemy that will be unbeatable if the armed conflict continues.