Still unexplained
The hunt for the origins of Covid-19 has for the past four years been a tangled web of politics, power struggles, and international finger-pointing.
Due to a surge in the number of coronavirus cases in Kabul with one virus-related death, the Governor of the Afghan capital said that the country will impose more restrictions to stop the spread of the disease.
On Sunday, the Ministry of Public Health said that with the emergence of 38 new cases, the total number of coronavirus infections in Afghanistan has increased to 337, TOLO News reported.
Of the new cases, Kabul and Herat province each reported 10 infections.
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Herat currently accounted for the highest number of cases in the country with 216, while Kabul came second with 53 cases.
The overall death toll stood at eight.
Kabul Governor Yaqoub Haidari said in a statement, “We will arrest the violators and will put them in quarantine. We will also ask their employer to fine them.”
A country-wide lockdown came into effect in Afghanistan on March 28 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
During quarantine, citizens are only allowed to leave their homes for health or security reasons and to buy food and other necessities.
On Saturday, two Afghan Presidential Protective Service (PPS) members were attacked by unidentified gunmen that left one person dead and wounded the other on the outskirts of capital Kabul.
Last month, the first positive case of the virus was reported in the western province of Herat, which shares a large border with Iran, a major coronavirus hotspot.
Thousands of Afghans are returning to Afghanistan from Iran on a daily basis via the Islam Qala border crossing in Herat. One local official estimates it is as many as 15,000 people a day.
Earlier, in Herat, according to Public Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz, 8.5 million ($112,000) have been allocated to fight the coronavirus, and a new 300-bed hospital will be built to deal with COVID-19 cases. The expanded facilities in Herat will increase to hold 1,000 beds.
This comes as the head of Herat’s public health directorate, Abdul Hakim Tamanna, said 38 patients fled the regional hospital last month and one of them had tested positive for the coronavirus.
(With inputs from agency)
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