COVID-19
Delta variant of COVID-19 spreading rapidly through Afghanistan
The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) said Saturday that the Delta COVID-19 variant, first identified in India, is spreading rapidly in Afghanistan.
Acting Minister of Health, Wahid Majrooh, stated that 19 samples of suspected cases were tested in the central laboratories of the Ministry of Public Health of which 11 samples were detected as the Delta variant.
“This shows a rapid spread of the virus in Afghanistan,” Majrooh said.
This comes as the MoPH recorded 1,095 positive cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total infected number of people to 11,4220 since the first case was detected in early 2020.
Meanwhile, 56 people have died of the virus in the same period, bringing the total number of fatalities to 4,650 in the country, the MoPH said.
The Ministry has extended the closure of education centers for another two weeks as Afghanistan is dealing with the spread of the third wave of the pandemic.
Majrooh, however, stated that the MoPH, Education, and Higher Education Ministries were working on a plan to reopen educational centers.