Kazakh ex-president recovers from COVID-19

FILE PHOTO: Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan's former president, leaves after the enthronement ceremony of Japan's Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo

ALMATY (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's former president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has recovered from COVID-19 which he contracted in mid-June, his spokesman said on Thursday.

Nazarbayev, who will turn 80 next week, retains sweeping powers as Yelbasy, or national leader, and chair of the Central Asian nation's security council, and is seen as a guarantor of political stability.

"Today, Yelbasy tested negative for COVID-19," his spokesman Aidos Ukibay wrote on Twitter.

Nazarbayev will remain in self-isolation and will work remotely, Ukibay said. He also posted a photo of Nazarbayev walking out of a forest and a screenshot from an activity tracking app showing Nazarbayev had walked 2.5 kilometres.

(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Catherine Evans)