Kazakhstan hopes coronavirus cases won't top 3,500 - minister

ALMATY (Reuters) - Kazakhstan hopes to keep the number of coronavirus cases within 3,500 over the next two months, with the rate of infection peaking next month, Healthcare Minister Yelzhan Birtanov said on Monday.

The Central Asian nation of 19 million has confirmed 302 cases of the disease and has closed its borders, locked down most of its major cities and shut down most businesses in the two biggest population centres for a week.

"This is the outlook based on which we are preparing our forces and facilities," Birtanov told a briefing.

"...I hope we pass the main peak of the epidemic in April and then we will maintain quarantine measures to gradually reduce infection rates in Kazakhstan," he added.

Kazakhstan plans to spend $10 billion on a stimulus package aimed at softening the blow to its economy from the coronavirus outbreak and the collapse in the price of oil, the former Soviet republic's main export.

The Nur-Sultan government said on Monday it would pay doctors involved in the anti-coronavirus campaign monthly bonuses of about $500 to $2000, depending on their qualifications and proximity to patients, as well as extra payouts in case of infection and disability or death caused by the virus.

(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Alex Richardson)