KABUL (TCA) — Afghanistan’s Minister of Public Health Ferozuddin Feroz at a press conference in Kabul on February 24 confirmed the first coronavirus case in the country’s western Herat province, which borders Iran, Afghan broadcaster TOLOnews reported.
It is the first reported case in Afghanistan.
On Sunday, the Ministry of Public Health reported three suspected cases of coronavirus in Herat.
“Two of the cases were negative but one was positive,” said Feroz, adding that “preparations already took place” to respond to the coronavirus.
The three persons are Herat residents who recently returned from Qom city in Iran, the Public Health Ministry spokesman Wahidullah Mayar told TOLOnews.
The Afghan National Security Council in a statement said that all travel to and from Iran has been temporarily banned to prevent the coronavirus outbreak.
Based on this decision, trade relations between the two neighboring countries will also be stopped for an unknown time.
Iran has recorded the highest death toll outside the disease's epicenter in China, RFE/RL reports.
Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi told a news conference that the total number of confirmed cases in the country now stood at 61, including 12 deaths.
In Iran, where most of the infections were in Qom, authorities have imposed restrictions on public spaces and travel in an effort to curtail the virus’ spread.
Neighboring countries including Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, Armenia, and Afghanistan have imposed travel and immigration restrictions on Iran. Georgia suspended direct flights with Iran.
More than 2,600 people have died from the virus in mainland China, with over 75,000 cases confirmed cases reported.
Source: TCA
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