Afghan Health Ministry on high alert for Coronavirus

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: The Ministry of Public Health has prepared 100 beds with all the necessary facilities in the event that patients infected with the new coronavirus need to be treated.

So far, the virus has spread to more than twenty-seven countries.

All those who return from abroad are being examined by the Ministry of Public Health’s oversight team at airports and borders to prevent the coronavirus spread.

One person was suspected of having the virus, but it turned out to be nothing. “In the subsequent screenings, and following our monitoring, we were fortunate to find that the individual did not contain the virus,” said Allah Mohammad Noori, a public health ministry employee in the Hamid Karzai International airport.

But those Afghans in Wuhan, China say they have no freedom of movement. “For the past two days we were not allowed to move. We were not even allowed to get out of college,” said Mohammad ArifAslami, a returned student from China.

The Ministry of Public Health has now prepared 100 beds to prevent the spread of the coronavirus if it spreads to Afghanistan.

“The virus’s lethal ability is far lower, as more than a hundred incidents are reported to have been returned to their homes in good health,” said FerozuddinFeroz, Minister of Public Health.

Twenty specialists, thirty nurses, ten trained doctors are standing by in the emergency facility with 100 beds in the Afghan-Japan Hospital in Kabul.

“Because the virus can spread, although there is not a positive event in Afghanistan, our citizens should strive to use masks, take more Vitamin C, and especially do more handwashing,” said TahirFormuli, head of the Afghan-Japan hospital.

“If any infected person is transferred to this hospital, and if he or she is in need of an x-ray, we have it here–these facilities are provided at this hospital,” said MohibullahZeer, director of diagnostic services for the Ministry of Public Health.

So far, the coronavirus has spread to more than 27 countries, with more than 400 deaths, and no positive case has been recorded in Afghanistan so far.(TOLOnews)