The Afghan ministry of public health on Thursday, May 28, confirmed that over past 24 hours 582 cases of Covid-19 were reported in Afghanistan. With 582 new cases, the total number of Covid-19 has reached 13,036 in the country.
The capital Kabul, with 625 positive cases, stands on the top of the list followed by Herat in the west of the country.
According to official record, 235 people, who were infected by Covid-19, have died and 1209 Covid-19 patients have recovered in Afghanistan.
Speaking at a press conference, today, Thursday, May 28, Wahidullah Majroh, a deputy health minister, said that the pandemic coronavirus was spreading rapidly. Health workers are wording under pressure and it takes a long time to give out results of samples sent for test as the Afghan health facilities are underequipped and short of staff, Mr. Majroh says.
The actual number of Covid-19 cases and death toll caused by the virus are higher than official figures announced by health authorities.
“These days we lag behind to cope with suspected deaths,” Khushal Nabizada, head of Kabul directorate of public health, wrote on his Facebook account on Thursday. He has warned that Covid-19 outbreak is climbing in the capital Kabul.
Mr. Nabizada fears that health facilities may run short of staffs to cope with the pandemic in coming days.
The Afghan health authorities have constantly been urging the public to wear face masks, observe social distances and wash their hands with soap but a growing poverty forces thousands of breadwinners in the capital Kabul to break lockdown and come out to feed their desperate families.
Mr. Majroh says that the Afghan ministry of public health is running out medical equipment and it is in dire need of ventilators, masks and other equipment.
With an estimated six million population, the capital Kabul is the hardest hit city in the country. Over past 24 hours, the capital has recorded 625 new cases of coronavirus, according to health authorities.
In the meantime, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Turkmenistan’s president, has vowed that his country will establish test centers for the fatal Covid-19 in Torghundi and Andkhoy areas of Afghanistan. The Afghan authorities have welcomed the move.
