Afghanistan’s government on Saturday announced a new set of mandatory health guidelines aimed at slowing down the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
Afghanistan is running out of hospital beds as suspected cases of coronavirus surge, officials said on Saturday, warning “there is a disaster coming” in the impoverished country.
The new health guidelines require citizens to wear a face mask in public places, maintain a two-meter social distance, avoid gatherings of more than 10 people, disinfect all workplaces, and for elderly people to not leave their homes.
According to the new plan, all schools, universities, higher education institutes, restaurants, parks, sports complexes and wedding halls will remain closed for three months. Buses will not be allowed to commute between the cities.
“We will abide by our commitment when it comes to the implementation of this plan,” said Sayed Anwar Sadat, the acting minister of labor and social affairs.
“A committee has been formed to oversee the implementation of this plan, executive committees will also start their work in the provinces to implement these guidelines,” said Ahmad Jawad Osmani, the acting minister of health.
“our (hospital) beds are almost full, we won’t have any more capacity very soon,” health minister told reporters.
“The statistics of those infected are much higher than we imagine, this figure in Kabul may be over one million people,” said Mohammad Yaqoub Haidari, the governor of Kabul.
“The things that are related to the police will be taken care of by the police force,” said Abdul Saboor Qane, the deputy minister of interior for security affairs.
Latest COVID-19 figures in Afghanistan:
The Ministry of Public Health on Saturday reported 582 new positive cases of COVID-19 from 761 samples tested in the last 24 hours.
Herat was on the top of the list with 193 new positive cases followed by Kabul (161), Nimroz (107), Balkh (46), Nangarhar (23), Laghman (15), Ghor (14), , Kandahar (7), Uruzgan (6), Kunar (5), Nuristan (2), Helmand (2), and Paktia (1).
The ministry reported 18 deaths in the last 24 hours in Kunar (7), Herat (5), Kabul (4), Nimroz (1), and Helmand (1) provinces.
Also, 68 recoveries were reported by the ministry in Kabul (37), Logar (16), Maidan Wardak (10), Balkh (2), Paktia (2) and Herat (1).
The total number of known deaths from COVID-19 in the country is 327 and the total recovered cases is 1,830, according to the ministry.
So far, 45,900 samples have been tested and the total number of positive COVID-19 cases is 19,551, data by the ministry shows.
The number of active cases is 17,394 in Afghanistan, the data by the Public Health Ministry shows.
