Despite security concerns and the successive fall of districts in Afghanistan, the ears and Concerns about the third of wave of covid-19 have also raised in Afghanistan. According to official reports in last three days, orderly 406, 505, 242 cases were reported while 547 cases were reported in last 24 hours with dozens of deaths throughout the country. Based on official reports, the total cases of the epidemic have reached to 66,275 while the total recoveries exceeded 56,035 with 2,812 deaths around the country since the pandemic started over a year ago. However, these figures may not reflect the whole victims or cases due to lack of good system and other challenges such as insecurity, and complex geography of Afghanistan. However, the low cases are also attributed to other reasons such as young generation of Afghanistan, special gene in Afghan people, and special climate of Afghanistan and so on. During the first wave of covid-19, the Ministry of Public Health had estimated some 10 million Afghans would be infected with the corona-virus while formal registered cases are extremely lower than that after passing two waves of covid-19.
Anyway, the official rate of coronavirus has been rapidly rising in recent days and weeks in Afghanistan. As the statistics continue to rise, the officials at the Ministry of Public Health express concerns about the possibility of a “catastrophe and crisis” during the third wave of the Corona-virus outbreak in the country. The possible crisis of third wave of the coronavirus is described in such a way if the number of hospitalized patients exceeds the capacity of the health centers, these centers are fragile and cannot handle it due to many reasons such as limited facilities and fiscal challenges. During the first and second wave of corona-virus, a large number of contracted health workers joined health centers to fight against covid-19 but the ministry of health failed to pay their salaries and so led to distrusts between health workers and government. In addition, the ministry of health was also blamed for widespread corruptions and inabilities which overall raised a lot of questions and concerns in the country. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Health officials say they have already prepared a plan to fight the third wave of covid-19 in the country.
The next issue which widely has added to the concerns is non-observance of health advises such as not keeping social distance, not wearing masks, no prevention from social gatherings and so on. All educational centers, schools, hotels and other public gatherings are active as usual in a careless manner while the social contacts during Eid days are considered of the main factor behind the rapid increase of covid-19 in last days and weeks. According to Officials at the Ministry of Public Health, the public cooperation in preventing public crowdedness and maintaining health advises are the only way to reduce and control the spread of covid-19 during this round, but most of the social experts believe that the people would not listen to these advises without any compulsory measures. Although going to quarantine is not feasible in the current economic condition of the country, the government can to issue certain regulatory measures to prevent from the possible crisis in the coming weeks and months.
The second issue which increased the fear and concerns about the third wave of covid-19 is the emergence of mutated types of covid-19 in the country. Nearly a month ago, at the start of the third wave of covid-19 in the country, it was not considered as a serious threat in Afghanistan but given the crisis in neighboring countries such as India and Iran as a result of mutated types of covid-19, the people are widely concerned about the third wave. On one hand, the economic condition of the country does not allow to go quarantine. On the other hand, the public health facilities, poor health management, and people’s carelessness do not inform of a good condition in the coming weeks and months.
The third issue which raises concerns is the lack of enough vaccine in the country. It is said the total number of people who received vaccines in Afghanistan is about 55 thousand people including health workers, teachers, journalists, public servants, elders, prisoners, and so on. It is said that the donated vaccines which were given by India and other countries are about to be finished while there is no vaccine to replace the previous ones. Accordingly, a number of people are not interested to take vaccines due to rumors about the harms and its limited effect while the experts and also WHO stresses that vaccine are safe, effective, and is an important response to the spread of the COVID-19.
At the same time, WHO advises considering other precautions, such as physical distancing, wearing a mask, keeping rooms well ventilated, avoiding crowds, cleaning hands, and coughing into a bent elbow or tissue. Unfortunately, none of these devices are respected in Afghanistan while there are no enough readiness and health facilities in the country.
As a final major issue, the food prices, especially those foods and fruits which are recognized as sources of vitamin C are unstoppably increasing in the country. Almost all food prices have increased in-country, but those foods which are considered as a source of vitamin C have extremely increased in recent days. For example, today, one kg lemon was 120 Afghani in Kabul market while it was about 40 Afghani two weeks ago. If the government does not control the current conditions, we should expect a severe human tragedy in Afghanistan. The current economic condition, differs from the previous years and the people really cannot tolerate this economic pressure.