Chaman Border to be closed from Monday for Seven Days

Government has announced closure of Chaman border with Afghanistan for one-week amid the coronavirus outbreak in the neighboring country.

The interior ministry in its notification said the border will remain close for one week starting Monday i.e. March 2.

The move comes after Kabul confirmed its first case of the coronavirus on Monday with several others being tested for the diseases.

Ferozuddin Feroz, the minister of public health, told a press conference one of three suspected cases had been confirmed in the Western province of Herat.

In addition to the border closure, strict precautionary measures have also been put in place in border areas to stop the spread, including the establishment of an isolation ward at DHQ Hospital Parachinar.

Moreover, screening at the Babe-e-Dosti border crossing in Chaman is underway. Medical checkpoints have also been set up at Torkham border for those coming into the country from Afgahnistan’s Nangarhar province.

According to the provincial health department, more than 10,000 people have undergone screening in the last five days at the Chaman border.

Isolation wards have also been set up at Pak-Afghan Friendship Hospital, Landi Kotal and hospitals in Jamrud.

Islamabad has closed its border crossings with Iran while Kabul has also suspended all travel to the country, which has reported 43 deaths out of nearly 543 infections — making it one of the hardest hit countries outside the virus epicentre China.

Afghanistan announced its first virus infection on last Monday involving a patient who had recently been in Iran where millions of Afghans live.

The virus has spread to more than 25 countries, killing over 2,835 and infecting 85,000, mostly in China.

But new outbreaks in Europe, the Middle East and in Asia have fanned fears of the contagion taking hold in poor nations which lack the healthcare infrastructure to cope.