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The increase in cases reportedly has been localized in the regions of Atyrau, Aktobe and Shymkent, which collectively have almost 500 new cases and more than 30 critically ill patients.

It said the outbreak had taken hold in three provincial cities - Atyrau, Aktobe and Shymkent - and that Chinese nationals were among those who had died.

In a statement late on Thursday on its official WeChat account, the Chinese embassy flagged a “significant increase” in cases in the Kazakh cities of Atyrau, Aktobe and Shymkent since mid-June.

News reports said dozens of protesters were seized at actions that took place Saturday in the capital of Nur-Sultan and other cities that included Almaty, Shymkent, Karaganda and Aktobe.

The bus was travelling along a road in the remote Aktobe region that links the Russian city of Samara to Shymkent, a city in southern Kazakhstan close to the Uzbek border.