The Ministry of Public Health of the Islamic Emirate said that more than 18,000 people in Afghanistan have contracted COVID-19 since the beginning of 2023, but said the number of COVID-19 patients has fallen down during the last two months.

“So far in 2023 we have had 18,000 positive cases of COVID-19, in 2022 the number was less than 45,000 which shows decline," said Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil, spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health

Nasir, 57, has come from Baghlan province to the Afghan capital, Kabul. He said he contracted COVID-19 and has been hospitalized in the Afghan-Japan Hospital for the last ten days.