Tashkent, Uzbekistan — Under the chairmanship of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a video conference is being held on preparation for the academic year in schools.

Before moving on to the main issue on the agenda, the head of state touched upon the situation with the coronavirus. It was noted that this week, an average of 370 new cases of infection per day were detected, and in the current relaxation of quarantine requirements, this figure will be considered a benchmark.

The President warned all leaders about the inadmissibility of hiding the real numbers. Such attempts will entail harsh penalties, including criminal ones.

Khokims, heads of sectors and responsible departments were instructed on the need to ensure strict discipline to comply with sanitary requirements in every mahalla, public places, transport and enterprises. It is necessary to prevent cases when the same wedding or another ceremony is held for several days or 3-4 times a day.

It was noted that every effort is being made to treat patients with coronavirus with the most advanced and proven methods; currently, 75 highly qualified doctors from Russia, Germany, Turkey and China are working in our country.

– Prevention of infection depends, first of all, on our attention to ourselves, our health, the atmosphere in our family. If we all, the whole society, observe the rules of hygiene, medical protection and social distance, the disease will not spread, said Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The meeting also discussed the issue of material support for socially vulnerable families.

To this end, on 26 August, the head of state signed a decree “On additional measures for social support of the population”.

According to the document, in order to provide winter clothing sets, school uniforms and educational supplies to children under 16 years old from families included in the “iron notebook” receiving benefits in case of loss of breadwinner, as well as children with disabilities, material assistance will be provided in the amount of 500,000 soums. In total, this help will cover more than 810,000 children. More than 400 billion soums have been allocated for these purposes.

There are exact calculations on the number of children from socially vulnerable families under 16 years old, payments will be made through the Pension Fund.

The Ministry for Support of the Mahalla and Family, khokims and sector leaders have been instructed to provide financial assistance to needy families in a fair, open and correct manner so that no one is left without attention. The task was set to hold meetings with the population and explain the importance of spending allocated funds exclusively for the harmonious development and health improvement of children.