Afghanistan Health Minister says over 10k people infected with COVID-19, 650 fatalities

The acting Public Health Minister of Afghanistan, Dr Abdul Bari Omar, said nearly ten thousand people were infected with the coronavirus and 650 people died in the past five months. Citing a press conference by Dr Omar, Pajhwok news agency reported that the country has been administering at least 8000-10,000 vaccines on a daily basis. However, he acknowledged the county has witnessed an umpteen number of problems including, lack of health infrastructure and medical staff. According to Dr Omar, Afghanistan was coordinating with UNICEF to get the best possible help from the United Nations agency.

He informed that the agency has promised to establish ten oxygen-producing plants in order to avoid its shortage. Further, he urged the international communities to extend their hands to help lakhs of Afghans who have been facing an unprecedented crisis since the Taliban ousted the democratically elected government in mid-August last year. "The health sector was 90% dependent on foreign aid, which has been suspended, but efforts are being made to convince the world and solve the existing problems," Pajhwok quoted the acting Public Health Minister as saying. 

It should be mentioned here that the condition of the war-torn country further deteriorated after the extremist group seized power from the democratic Ashraf Ghani-led government on August 15, this year, resulting in the total collapse of the system. Though the Taliban assumed control nearly a month after ousting Ashraf Ghani, it was too late to address the concerns of citizens. A top Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) who had visited the country noted more than 24 million people require life-saving assistance in Afghanistan.  

India sends 5,00,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Afghanistan

India on Thursday sent a batch of 5,00,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, to Afghanistan. According to a statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday, the batch of humanitarian assistance consisting of five lakh COVID vaccines was received by the Taliban extremist group on 1 January 2022.

A statement by the MEA mentioned that the humanitarian assistance was handed over to the Indira Gandhi Hospital in Kabul. Further, the Ministry said that New Delhi will release another batch of additional five lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks.

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