Avoid travel to India, Afghan envoy tells citizens

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Afghan ambassador in New Delhi says the coronavirus crisis has reached an extreme situation in India, asking Afghans to avoid traveling to the country for some time.

FaridMamondzai, Afghan envoy to India in New Delhi, in an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News said that 1.5 million people were infected with the virus in India only in the last five days during which 12,000 people died of the disease.

He said that most cities in the country faced shutdown, hospitals were overcrowded and turning away patients after running out of medical oxygen and beds.

Some countries had started providing emergency medicine and oxygen to India, he said, adding that the situation in the country was critical and not suitable for foreigners including Afghans to travel there.

“There is no place left in hospitals for treatment of patients, treatment of other diseases has also become a challenge …” he said.

Mamondzai said that a number of patients who traveled to India for treatment were also infected with Covid-19.

“It is not a good time to travel to India, health services are limited, they cannot respond to Covid-19 patients, big cities are in shutdown,” he said.

However, he said that if in case anyone wanted to travel to the country, he or she should observe all health guidelines and preventive measures.

The Afghan envoy said that flights between India and Afghanistan had reduced by 50 percent and he tried to limit them more to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

A week back, an Afghan who was resident of Baghlan province and named Abdul Samay Ahmadi died of the virus in India’s Pune city. Indian government does not allow transfer of bodies of foreigners to their home countries, he said.

Mamondzai said that the embassy’s diplomatic relations with Indian government had also been limited or totally cut due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, he said that they provided limited services for Afghans in the embassy in New Delhi and consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad.

Mds/ma