Monitoring Desk
KABUL: The Ministry of Public Health accused the Afghan government of negligence in the fight against the coronavirus, and warned that if things continue unchanged a disaster will result.
Based on the ministry’s figures, one infected person has died and 42 others are infected in Afghanistan.
“We should do whatever is necessary, but we can expect a crisis because there are different political circumstances and double standards,” said Wahid Mayar, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, referring to their repeated call for locking down Herat in the west of Afghanistan over the outbreak of the coronavirus.
“I am warning that the Ministry of Public Health will not be responsible (for the crisis) if we – both our countrymen and our government and non-government institutions – continue to stay inattentive, Mayar said.
However, Wahid Omar, President Ashraf Ghani’s senior advisor for public and strategic affairs, said that it is early to lockdown Herat province.
“Announcing a state of emergency or a lockdown in Herat has other aspects that we also need to consider. Based on the advice of the people, representatives, and local officials, such actions are not necessary now,” said Omar. This comes as local officials of Herat have said that hundreds of thousands of Afghans have returned to Afghanistan from neighboring Iran, a COVID-19 hotspot.(TOLOnews)
