Covid-19: Pakistan, US embassies in Kabul closes its consulate sections

KABUL (Tolo News): The Pakistan Embassy in Kabul announced a one-week closure time for its consulate section due to the rise of the Coronavirus outbreak in Afghanistan. “Due to the deteriorating situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, the consular section of the Embassy of Pakistan in Kabul will remain closed for one week from 13 June to 17 June 2021”, Pakistan Embassy in Kabul said in a statement.
The further announcement would be made 17 June 2021, however, the Embassy would continue to be operational for the online visa issuance facility, further added in the statement. This comes as the number of new COVID-19 cases in Afghanistan has risen recently, the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) has warned the general public of a crisis if healthcare measures are not taken seriously. Meanwhile, in response to the “intense third wave of COVID-19 cases throughout the country” the US Embassy in Kabul has suspended all visa application operations effective June 13 (Sunday), the embassy said in a statement.
According to the statement, everyone “scheduled for appointments in the coming days will be contacted directly to reschedule as soon as visa operations resume. The embassy stated that applicants do not need to contact the Embassy to reschedule and should not come to the Embassy. “We acknowledge and regret the inconvenience to applicants as we seek to protect the health of our staff and applicants to ensure we can fully support visa and other consular services going forward,” the statement read.
The embassy also stated that the United States stands in solidarity with the Afghan government and the Ministry of Public Health as they work to take action to contain the spread of the virus and care for those who fall ill. “We are saddened to hear of the deaths of esteemed and much valued Afghans who have passed away from COVID recently. We also grieve the passing of one of our own Embassy colleagues,” read their statement. The embassy added that the United States government will continue to support efforts to prevent and stop the spread of COVID-19 in Afghanistan and that in the past year, USAID has provided more than $39 million to directly to help Afghanistan respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, expedited $90 million in other COVID-related development assistance through the World Bank, and reoriented other US assistance to support Afghan efforts to deal with the pandemic’s consequences.
“US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently announced more than $266 million in new humanitarian assistance to address the pressing needs of an estimated 18 million Afghans who are suffering due to COVID-19, hunger, and displacement, bringing total US humanitarian aid for Afghanistan to nearly $3.9 billion since 2002,” read the statement. Meanwhile, there are unpleasant reports about the lack of oxygen in Afghanistan hospitals amid a speedy increase of new COVID-19 cases all over the country.
The Ministry of Public Health, following announcing of another 14-day restriction warned of oxygen insufficiency in Afghanistan hospitals and called on the general public to take this pandemic seriously and obey the instructions provided through the health centers including wearing masks, keeping social distancing, washing, and sanitizing hands regularly. According to the Ministry of Public Health, 67 people have died of Coronavirus in the last 24 hours, however, there could be several other unregistered deaths.
973 new cases have been registered by the MOPH in the last 24 hours, though there could be hundreds of active cases, not officially reported or not tested. If the situation doesn’t change, the country can get a critical stage due to a lack of enough health facilities and lack of oxygen. There are only a few oxygen production companies in Afghanistan with a very limited capacity for production.