Afghanistan�s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) said on Sunday that COVID-19 infections have increased across Afghanistan.

According to the MoPH, 429 COVID-19 cases were reported in the past 24 hours in the country.

MoPH officials raised concerns and said that the Afghan health sector is not able to detect the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

"Positive cases of COVID-19 surged recently. Symptoms of the cases [show] they are likely the new variant; we don�t know [whether it is Omicron or not], because we don�t have [test] kits. Compatriots should be careful," said Dr Javed Hazher, spokesman for the MoPH.

Employees of the Afghan-Japan hospital which is allocated to treat Coronavirus patients said that they have not received their salaries for many months.

"Most of the cases are Omicron... We don�t have machines to detect Omicron cases, we also don�t have necessary kits," said Hashmat Faizi, one hospital official.

Afghan patients and their relatives meanwhile are concerned about the lack of drugs and medical equipment in hospitals.

"Our patient had [Coronavirus] symptoms, we transferred him here. It is not clear yet whether he is infected by Coronavirus or not," said Nasar, a relative of one patient.

"Our patient had been admitted here for a long time. We don�t have a good place to stay here, our problems should be reduced," said Namat Gull, another relative.

Despite the increase in COVID cases across Afghanistan, people continue to ignore advice to wear face masks in public nor do they stick to social distancing regulations.

Advertisements in the media about measures to take to avoid contracting the virus have also stopped.

LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/26588

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