Turkmenistan and Covid-19

While many countries are scrambling to get a first dose of Pfizer’s new vaccine – to potentially save millions of citizens and rescue their economies, Turkmenistan is different. A miracle country with supposedly no coronavirus cases – refused to do any testing or post public updates. The day after Christmas, its president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, claimed that licorice could cure COVID-19. The president, who also happens to be a former dentist, claims that Turkmenistan has “sufficient reserves" of licorice and ordered the national academy of sciences to study the plant's supposed health effects. Even though global health authorities have long recommended wearing masks, social distancing and regular handwashing to slow the spread of the virus, it took a July visit from a World Health Organization delegation for Turkmenistan to adopt the measures.