Officials at Covid-19 treatment Hospitals in Parwan, Kapisa, and Panjshir provinces of Afghanistan report the outbreak of a new variant of coronavirus (Omicron) in these provinces. According to them, 70 to 85% of the residents of these provinces are infected with Omicron.
Abdulmutallab Hamed, head of the Covid-19 treatment hospital in Kapisa, said that out of 10 residents in the province, seven were infected with the coronavirus. “Although the death toll from the new variant is lower than previous ones, it is more contagious,” he told Hasht-e Subh. “The number of people infected with the new variant is shocking compared to the past,” Hamed said. “According to our findings, 70% of the residents in this province are infected with the coronavirus. In the last six days alone, nearly 240 positive cases have been registered in the province. Fortunately, we have all the facilities for the next six months, and we have no worries about that.”
Meanwhile, officials at the 19 Covid-19 treatment Hospital in Parwan province said that according to their findings, 70 to 75 percent of the province’s population is infected with the Coronavirus. Abdul Hamid Alemi Zhakfar, head of Covid-19 treatment Hospital in Parwan province, said that although their treatment centers did not have omicron diagnostic kits available, most Parwan residents were infected with the virus due to the symptoms of the virus. “Although we do not have omicron diagnostic kits, based on our symptoms and experience, we can say that all patients are infected with Omicron,” he said. “The number of patients is more than 20 to 30 percent compared to the past.”
Local officials in Panjshir province are also concerned about the spread of the virus in the province. Abdul Maaruf Nosrati, head of the Covid-19 treatment hospital in Panjshir province, told Hasht-e Subh that about 80 to 85 percent of the province’s population has been infected with the new coronavirus.
Meanwhile, officials at the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan say that since the first day of the implementation, more than 120,000 residents of Parwan, Kapisa, and Panjshir provinces have received the vaccines. Mohammad Farooq Sahak, head of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan’s regional office, told Hasht-e Subh that their 58 teams in 25 districts in the three northern provinces adjacent to Kabul were receiving the corona vaccine on a daily basis. According to officials, 10,546 people have been infected with the virus in the northern provinces of Kabul since the outbreak of the first wave of Covid-19. Of these, 390 people in Parwan, Kapisa and Panjshir provinces have died and the rest have recovered from the virus.
Omicron is a mutated variant of the coronavirus that was first identified in South Africa and has now spread to many western countries. Although the virus has also been reported in neighboring countries, Afghanistan does not yet have diagnostic kits. The Ministry of Public Health has said that it has requested kits for the new variant of coronavirus or omicron from the World Health Organization and that these kits will be available to them soon. The new strain of the coronavirus is spreading in the northern provinces of Kabul as most private Covid-19 hospitals in the country are closed due to lack of facilities.
News Source – Hasht-e Subh Daily
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