Coronavirus infections jump to 4 in Herat

The Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan confirmed Saturday three more positive cases of Coronavirus in western Herat province.

Firozuddin Firoz, the Minister of Public Health, besides warning Afghans, urged people, media, scholars, and healthcare services to help fight against coronavirus.

President Ghani also, inaugurating the new year of the Afghan parliament, said that if the outbreak of coronavirus accelerated, the government would plan a national budget and present it to the parliament to pass it.

Moreover, Firozuddin Firoz warned that Herat was on alert, and the officials should not allow mass gatherings. He also underlined that 20,000 coronavirus test kits would be put to service in no time.

Abdul Qayom Rahimi, governor of Herat, insisted that precautions had been taken to stop the outbreak of the deadly virus and diagnose the infected people.

On the other hand, a member of the Herat Provincial Council talked about the insufficient budget given to fight the coronavirus. Dr. Mahdi Hadid said if a sufficient budget was not sent to Herat, the province would go into crisis.

Although some public property owners have been already warned not to open to visitors, local officials have been launching ceremonies and some offices are open to the crowd.

Wahidullah Mayar, the spokesman for the Ministry on Public Health told Ariana News that three of the suspected cases were tested positive of the virus.

He added the two of infections had recently returned from neighboring Iran – where the death toll for the novel coronavirus surpassed 120 people with a total of 4,747 infections – and the other had contracted with infected people.

It comes as the total cases of the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, jumped to four in Afghanistan, while dozens of possible inflected cases are under-diagnosis.