Strict measures urged to stem Covid-19 spread

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has stressed the need for taking strict measures to control the spread of coronavirus while the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) says universities and other buildings would be handed over to the health ministry if needed.

Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases, the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) has announced the closure of all educational institutes in 16 provinces, including Kabul, for two weeks.

On Friday, the MoPH announced recording at least 977 positive cases of the coronavirus and 18 deaths from the infection.

In a statement, MoHE said the number of positive cases had recently increased, setting the alarm bells ringing in the country.

In order to prevent the spread of the virus, the ministry said, all private and public universities, schools and other educational institutes would remain closed for two weeks with effect from Saturday.

Educational institutes have been ordered closed in Kabul, Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, Logar, Nangarhar, Paktia, Parwan, MaidanWardak, Panjsher, Balkh, Laghman, Badakhshan, Kapisa, Kunduz and Nimroz.

Addressing reporters here, Acting Health Minister WaheedMajroh stressed over imposing strict measures to curtail the spread of Covid-19 nation-wide.

He said if the third wave of Covid-19 was not tackled wisely and cleverly, the spread of the pandemic then would go out of control. He urged the masses to follow health measures to ensure that pandemic doesn’t spread quickly.

Acting Education Minister RangeenaHameedi said it was matter of life and death and millions of children go to school and hoped that within two weeks the situation would be controlled and things would return to normal.

Higher Education Minister Abbas Baseer said: “We tried our best not to close universities, but the safety of one’s life is also important. In today’s meeting it was decided that university buildings in 16 provinces will be handed over to the health ministry.”

Over 70,000 people have been infected with Covid-19 virus since its outbreak in Afghanistan in which 2,899 have died.

Nh/ma

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