Coronavius is a prohibited word: Police arrest people in masks

According to a statement by International Media Freedom Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the word Coronavirus has also been removed from health brochures distributed in schools, hospitals and companies.

The wealthy Central Asian state, which borders Iran, has not reported any infection so far, with more than 44,000 infected in neighboring Iran.

Reporters Without Borders, headquartered in Paris, say civil police are likely to arrest people wearing masks or discussing coronarys.

The citizens of Turkmenistan have access to only unilateral and scarce information about the coronary pandemic, and authorities say no case of infection has been reported in the country.

On March 13th, President Gurbalunki Berdimuhamedov issued a order for public spaces to be sprinkled with the traditional harmala plant, which is supposed to be a safeguard against the epidemic.

Turkmenistan ranks last on the list of press freedom index 2019 published by Reporters Without Borders and is the world's most closed country.

The government controls all local media and has only a small portion of internet users who can only access the highly censored version of the network, usually in cafes where they must first reveal their identity.