Afghanistan has recorded its biggest one-day rise of new coronavirus cases, with the capital, Kabul, and western Herat province experiencing the worst day of the crisis.
The health ministry confirmed 866 new Covid-19 cases across the war-torn country, pushing the total number of infection to 14,525. Three patients died overnight, bringing the death toll to 249. There have been 1,303 recoveries.
More than 60% of tests done in a 24-hour period came back positive across the country. The health ministry, which tested 1,425 suspected patients, has pledged to increase the number of daily tests. It has so far tested 37,348 patients.
In the capital, the health ministry recorded 411 new confirmed cases. Kabul is the country’s worst affected area for number of transmissions, with the total number of infections in the capital at 5,775.
Herat, which borders Iran, recorded 177 new cases. The first case of the virus were reported in the province after thousands of Afghan migrants poured back from Iran in February and March, fanning out across the country without being tested or quarantined. The total number of infections in Herat is 2,461 with 51 deaths.
The situation in southern province of Kandahar is also concerning as no one has been tested in more than a fortnight due to problems in the testing process.
Wahid Majroh, the deputy health minister said he instructed the health sector of Kandahar and nearby provinces to send samples to Kabul.
“We have a serious problem in Kandahar, PCR machine is off and there is no flight toward Kandahar so our engineers fix that, there will be a UN flight to Kandahar in coming days and our team will go with that,” Majroh said this week.
Majroh said 40% of total confirmed cases were recorded in the 10 days before Eid and added that previously he was “warning that the flood [of coronavirus] will come, but now the flood has arrived and many people are sinking”.
Everywhere in the country, the eastern province of Nangarhar and the northern province of Balkh saw a surge in the number of new infections recorded with 74 new cases combined.
