KABUL, Afghanistan: The responsibility of the State Committee for Public Relations for the prevention of coronavirus outbreak has been officially transferred to the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).   Waheed Omer, Senior Advisor and General Director of the President's Office of Public and Strategic Affairs, who has previously been in charge of the State Committee for Public Awareness to prevent the outbreak of the coronavirus, today handed over the responsibility of the committee to the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH). He said three weeks ago, as the head of the State Committee for the Public Awareness to prevent the Coronavirus outbreak, he had promised the country's cabinet to accomplish 15 commitments, all of which have been fulfilled so far. Mr. Omer praised the committee’s efforts in making health messages in audio and video formats for publication in the media, coordination with telecommunications officials to deliver health messages to 15 million subscribers, the printing of one million sticker posters for distribution in districts where people don’t have access to radio and television, printing and installing billboards in Kabul, managing 60 health and religious professionals to participate in specialized media debates and increasing the capacity of the call centers to answer around 5,000 calls daily, were reminded as the main achievements of this committee under his directorate. He said that now the MoPH has been given the responsibilities to continue the awareness about coronavirus, people in all parts of the country have become aware of what the coronavirus is and how prevent its spread in the country. Mr. Omer added that around 27 million Afs (US $ 350,000) had been spent on the Public Awareness Committee under his directorate, which was funded by the Presidential Administration office. He said the money had been paid for the broadcasting of health messages to radio and television stations, the printing and installation of billboards in Kabul, the establishment of a call center and its necessary equipment. The documents with all the details are available and will be shared. Emphasizing the importance of the role of public awareness in the process of fighting the coronavirus, Mr. Omer called for the continuation of this process. Meanwhile, Feda Mohammad Paikan, Deputy Minister of MoPH for Health Services, thanked Mr. Omer and his team at the Public Awareness Committee and said that they stood with the MoPH in a situation when they desperately needed cooperation in the field of public awareness about coronavirus. And they did the awareness work properly. Stressing the latest figures of the Coronavirus causalities in the country that until now a total of 3,031 suspected coronavirus samples have been sent to the Ministry of Public Health's laboratories, of which 423 cases have been tested positive. Paikan described the number of positive incidents in Kabul as 73 and said that only one of them had the history traveling abroad. The Deputy Minister of Public Health asked people who tested positive for the coronavirus not to stay at their home any longer and should admit themselves to Special Hospitals for treatment of COVID-19.

KABUL, Afghanistan: So far, 2,595 suspected coronavirus samples have been delivered to the MoPH laboratories of Kabul, Nangarhar and Herat, of which 337 have been identified positive Wahidullah Mayar, spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health, speaking on the series of Coronavirus update daily press conferences at the Government Media and Information Center (GMIC), added: "In the past 24 hours, 38 new positive cases of coronavirus have been registered in the country." He said 10 of these cases are in Kabul, 10 in Herat, eight in Kandahar, three in Paktia, two in Samangan, two in Balkh and Kapisa, Takhar and Zabul each has one positive case. Over the past 24 hours, five people with coronavirus have also been cured, according to Mayar, adding that the total number of recovered people has reached to 17. Spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health said that the results of Coronavirus's test from an elderly patient from Takhar province, who died this morning due to respiratory illness, was also positive. He added that four respirator sent to Afghanistan by a Qatari charity that would be sent to Herat province. Mayar also said that Corona virus diagnosis laboratories have been launched in Balkh province, where suspicious samples of coronavirus from nearby provinces could be tested.     ####

KABUL, Afghanistan: So far, 2,288 suspected coronavirus samples have been tested in Kabul, Herat and Nangarhar laboratories, of which 299 have been identified positive.   Wahidullah Mayar, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), speaking on the series of Coronavirus update daily press conference, added: "In the past 24 hours, 25 new coronavirus cases have been identified in the ministry's laboratories." He said that 11 of these incidents are in Kabul, 5 cases in Herat, 2 cases in Samangan province and Balkh, Faryab, Ghazni, Logar, Nimroz and Ghor provinces, each has one cases. Mayar also said that a suspicious sample of coronavirus in Kunduz province has also been identified positive and is currently being treated in Badakhshan province. The spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health said: "Two patients with coronavirus from Nimroz and Nangarhar provinces who were under treatment have been cured, which means that the number of people who have been cured has reached 12." He said that the results of the Coronavirus test from the body of a 75-year-old man who died of heart and respiratory illness at a Kabul hospital yesterday were also positive. Noting that the number of positive cases of coronavirus in the world and Afghanistan is increasing, Mayar stressed that if the citizens do not cooperate and pay attention to the messages and health recommendations of the MoPH and the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of incidents will increase. ###