The Health Ministry on Tuesday said that 49 new COVID-19 cases have been registered in the country in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 714.
The 49 new cases were registered in Kabul (18), Kandahar (15), Balkh (6), Herat (4), Ghazni (4) and Nangarhar (2), according to the ministry.
At least 40 people have recovered from the coronavirus in the country while 23 have died, the Health Ministry spokesman said.
In the meantime, the International Monetary Fund executive board approved immediate debt relief for 25 countries--including Afghanistan--in order to help these countries focus on COVID-19 response.
Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a statement said: "Today, I am pleased to say that our Executive Board approved immediate debt service relief to 25 of the IMFs member countries under the IMFs revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) as part of the Funds response to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic."
The statement continued:
"This provides grants to our poorest and most vulnerable members to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months and will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts," she said.
"The CCRT can currently provide about US$500 million in grant-based debt service relief, including the recent US$185 million pledge by the U.K. and US$100 million provided by Japan as immediately available resources. Others, including China and the Netherlands, are also stepping forward with important contributions. I urge other donors to help us replenish the Trusts resources and boost further our ability to provide additional debt service relief for a full two years to our poorest member countries," she said in the statement.
The countries receiving relief are: Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, D.R., The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo, and Yemen.
The number of victims of the COVID-19 disease globally has reached more than 119,686, and nearly 1.9 million more have been infected with the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/15845
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