Corona-virus in Afghanistan
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2020-04-16
Nearly a third of Afghanistan's population — around 10 million people — has been infected by the novel coronavirus since February, according to a report published by the country's Health Ministry.
The World Health Organization-backed survey revealed that around 31.5% of Afghanistan's population contracted the virus since the country imported its first cases from neighboring Iran.
Ahmad Jawad Osmani, the acting health minister, told local media the survey involved around 9,500 people from across the country.
Officially, Kabul has so far reported around 37,000 COVID-19 cases nationwide and nearly 1,300 related deaths as of August 7.
Yarbaz Hamidi, an Afghan parliamentarian, told DW that the official figure does not reflect the true number of cases as the country has only tested around 90,000 people since the start of the pandemic.
"We should not trust these numbers [official coronavirus figures] because they are not based on accurate and countrywide data," he added.