Coronavirus positivity rate has declined to 30-40 percent in Afghanistan, the country’s acting public health minister said on Thursday.
Ahmad Javad Osmani told reporters that60 to70 percent of samples that were tested daily were coming back as positive over the past 45 to 60 days, but now that has declined to 30 to 40 percent.
He said that the coronavirus situation will become normal after the positivity rate reaches 5 percent.
Afghanistan has registered 33,908 cases of coronavirus infections and 957 deaths attributed to it. Authorities say that actual infections are hundreds of times higher than the official figure.
On the issue of shortage of oxygen in hospitals, Osmani said that 500 oxygen generating machines are expected to be purchased and delivered to hospitals.
Meanwhile, Aminuddin Muzafari, deputy Haj and religious affairs minister, said urged those who had planned to perform the pilgrimage to help the needy people.
Kabul Governor Mohammad Yaqub Haidari said that restaurants in the city were ignoring health advices including social distance. He said that the restaurants will be shut again if they continue to ignore such advices.
