Tajikistan has confirmed its first 15 coronavirus cases, the health ministry of the central Asian nation said Thursday, after weeks of being virus-free, despite sharing borders with China and other countries with infections.

Five cases have been confirmed in the capital, Dushanbe, and 10 in the Sughd province that borders Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, the ministry said.

Tajikistan closed its borders last month and took some steps to curb large social gatherings, but has generally been less stringent about social distancing in the absence of confirmed cases.

Almost 11,000 people have been quarantined over the last three months and 8,438 have already been discharged, the government said in a statement Thursday.

The death of a high-ranking prosecutor from respiratory complications this month sparked speculation over the spread of the disease. But the health ministry said the official had died from swine flu and that testing had identified no cases.

Tajikistan's confirmation of coronavirus cases leaves isolated Turkmenistan as the only officially coronavirus-free country in the former Soviet bloc.