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Turkmenistan authorities have banned the use of the word «coronavirus» in everyday life to hide information about the pandemic situation. These measures imposed by the government of the central Asian republic put the country's citizens in danger, warn Reporters Without Borders (RSF) non-profit safeguarding the right to freedom of information.

Public media employees are no longer allowed to use this word, as it also gets removed from brochures distributed in schools, hospitals, and workplaces, note the human rights activists.

This denial of information not only threatens the Turkmen citizens, who are at highest risk but also strengthens the authoritarianism imposed by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, underlined Jeanne Cavelier, the head of RSF's Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk.

Earlier, NEWS.ru reported that the majority of Russians changed their lifestyle due to coronavirus.