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KABUL: Health officials in western Herat province have expressed concerns on possible second wave of covid-19 pandemic in the eve of busy ramble ahead of the Muslim Holiday Eid-al Adha.
If the citizens committed negligence, there is the possibility of infection of a large number of people to the virus, the officials said. Herat is considered as the epicenter of the pandemic virus in Afghanistan.
The concerns come as a huge amount of people were infected by the coronavirus on the eve of Eid-al Fitar.
Head of provincial public health, Abdul Hakim Tamana called on the people to stay at home, observe social distance and take medical recommendations seriously as the virus is not fully contained in Afghanistan so far. “I request my people that we have a lot of time ahead to omit the virus,” he said. “What if we again face a hazardous wave of Covid19 patients that we would not be able to provide service for?”
The rapid increase of the covid-19 patients in Herat has affected the provincial health system as well. There have been constant complaints about the shortage of medical supply in the provincial health centers.
A member of Herat provincial council, Sardar Bahaduri said that the government has failed to properly combat the virus at its initial phase. “The second wave of covid-19 may hit Herat and it would be better if the government made tremendous plans in advance,” Bahaduri said.
A large number of Afghans commute to Iran and Afghanistan via “Islam Qala” border line in Herat. There are concerns that the people, who are shuttling between Iran and Afghanistan, may carry the pandemic virus to Afghanistan as they did one in February when Afghanistan had no covid-19 patients. The initial wave of the virus spread in Afghanistan after the arrival of thousands of migrants from Iran to Herat.
22 years old Farshad Fatahi, who recovered from the infection of the virus called on the citizens to take the virus seriously and behold precautionary measures. “I didn’t take the pandemic seriously in Eid-al Fitar and celebrated it as usual,” he said. “Eventually I got infected and gone through a lot of tough days.”
Herat has recorded over 4,000 coronavirus patients, whose 170 died and the rest recovered from the infection and gone home after going through medical checkups.
