Afghanistan’s Ambassador to China Javed Qaem on Wednesday said efforts were underway to gain further assistance from the neighboring country for prevention of Covid-19, but what the Afghans needed the most was to practice Ministry of Public Health (MoPH)’s guidelines.

Qaem told Pajhwok Afghan News during an inclusive interview that government factories in China had resumed productions and they had collected and already shared with MoPH the prices of important and necessary equipment.

He said, “China and other countries will support us in this regard, but practicing the guidelines will have more effect than the foreign aid.”

He said on April 2, the Chinese Ambassador in Kabul handed over the first batch of Covid-19 prevention materials to the Afghan government.

He said further assistance from China was expected over the next two weeks, saying the Chinese government besides the first batch of Covid-19 prevention materials was also sharing experience of the battle against COVID-19 with the Afghan government.

He said the Chinese government and doctors also shared information and experiences with a number of Asian countries, including Afghanistan, through video conferences in recent past.

The third Afghan doctor treating novel coronavirus patients has died, health officials confirmed.

The deceased was identified as Iqbal Omari who died on Wednesday in Afghan-Japan hospital in Kabul.

The spokesman of the Ministry of Public Health, Wahidullah Mayar said the doctor has been in quarantine that transferred to the hospital after worsening his health condition.

Earlier, two doctors named Yousuf Aryubi and Hanifulllah Hanif were also died of the virus in Kabul hospitals.

The health authorities in Herat province say an 80-year-old man died of the coronavirus in the province.

The spokesman of Herat Public Health Department, Muhammad Rafiq Sherzai said that the man died at around 12:30pm in COVID-19 Number 1 hospital.

With the death of the old man, the number of death people in Herat province reached 7.

Afghan nationals residing near the capital, Tehran, are producing over 1,000 hospital gowns per day.

An authority in charge of a local religious congregation centre, said afghans living in the town of Ray produce more than 1,000 gowns as well as hygienic headwear and footwear.

“Given the coronavirus outbreak in the country, Afghan nationals are producing gowns and caps to support the nation’s medical personnel and hospitals,” he added.

The official, himself an Afghan national, said only through cooperation can the country get through the COVID-19 crisis.

Afghan authorities have announced that 747 men and women prisoners have been released due to the spread of the coronavirus based on a presidential decree.

The office of Kabul governor in a press release said that
a commission of the deputies of the provinces, members of the Kabul Prosecutor’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office, the Ministry of Justice’s Children’s Correctional Center, the Human Rights Commission, the Prisons Regulatory Authority, the legal counsel of the National Directorate of Security and the Deputy Minister of Policy of the Ministry of Interior have reviewed the cases of 1,400 prisoners, and as a result, 747 prisoners and detainees of eligible men and women have been released from prison.

According to the press release, Kabul’s financial deputy of Kabul governor, Mahboobullah Mohebbi, has called on members of the commission to speed up the process and carefully reviewing other cases provided to the commission, so that those eligible can be released.

Following the outbreak of the coronavirus in Afghanistan, President Ghani ordered the release of a number of prisoners in order to prevent the spread of the virus in prisons, and more than 1,000 people have been released from prisons across the country.

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) will provide 100,000 medical masks to Afghanistan, Mazari Sharif’s head of the agency, Fazıl Akın Erdoğan, announced on Tuesday.

According to Erdoğan, the agency started to produce masks as part of its efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

He stated that a total of 100,000 masks will be produced, and as soon as the production completes, the masks will be distributed to the northern and northeastern parts of Afghanistan.

Erdoğan underlined that the mask distribution is free, and the agency will continue to support the Afghan people.

There are a total of 714 confirmed coronavirus cases in Afghanistan, and so far 23 people have been killed.

Afghan local officials have confirmed that at least two patients have died of the coronavirus in Nangarhar province.

The spokesman of Nangarhar governor, Ataullah Khogyani said that the two patients died on Tuesday night.

According to him, the died patients were the resident of Sorobi District of Kabul and Nangarhar province whom had 50 and 60 years of age.

With the new two deaths, the death toll in the country reaches 25.

This comes as the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country reaches 784.

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) says at least 70 new positive cases of coronavirus were registered in the country during the past 24 hours.

MoPH in a statement said that around 542 cases have been tested at the Ministry’s laboratories which 70 of them confirmed positive.

According to MoPH, the new cases include 31 cases in Kabul, 22 in Herat, 3 in Kandahar, 3 in Ghazni, two in Maidan Wardak, Kunar, Nangarhar each and one in Faryab, Nimroz and Baghlan each.

This comes as with the registration of the new cases, the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country reaches 784.

A COVID-19 sample testing center has halted its operation in Kandahar province due to lack of kits and other personal protection equipment, the provincial health department said.

The Kandahar health department called on the Afghan Ministry of Public Health to take action and resolve the issue.

Meanwhile, residents in Kandahar have warned that the virus could further spread among the people if actions are not taken.

According to medical officials in Kandahar, at least 300 patients suspected of being infected with COVID-19 have been tested in Kandahar. The suspected patients are from Kandahar, Helmand and Urozgan provinces.

The presidential palace has announced that it has decided to extend the quarantine in Herat province.

Arg in a statement said that President Ashraf Ghani had talked to officials in Herat province on Tuesday evening about the fight against the coronavirus in the province via a video conference.

According to the statement, the conference reviewed the proposals of Herat officials to effectively combat the outbreak of the coronavirus and decided to extend the quarantine period.

“Ghani has also praised the initiative to establish a food bank in Herat province,” the statement reads.

This comes as the number of people infected with the coronavirus in Afghanistan has reached 714, most of them in Herat province.