Afghan govt 'lacks capacity' for nationwide COVID-19 testing

On Saturday, Ahmad Jawad Osmani said that with the country moving towards the peak of the virus, the process of testing of COVID-19 samples will change into clinical testing, meaning that a medical worker will determine a COVID-19 case simply by judging from symptoms, reports TOLO News.

This will also allow private clinics and hospitals to conduct the testing of COVID-19 samples.

According to Osmani, the medical equipment that was pledged by Unicef was yet to arrive in the country.

"We cannot activate testing centres in the 34 provinces... Right now, we have laboratories in 11 provinces, but the medical equipment which was pledged to us by Unicef has not arrived... The equipment would have enabled us to expand the testing process to 34 provinces.

"We plan to increase testing capacity in 34 provinces, but this needs time and it is out of the control of the Ministry of Public Health," he added.

Earlier, the Ministry vowed to increase the testing capacity to 5,000 tests a day but never met its target. It only conducts 1,000 tests a day, said the TOLO News report.

The main testing centers are in Kabul, Herat, Balkh, Nangarhar and Kandahar.

So far, the ministry has tested over 54,000 COVID-19 samples, according to the Ministry.

As of Sunday, Afghanistan reported a total of 24,102 COVID-19 cases, with 451 deaths.