After an increase in Covid cases, US embassy in Kabul has announced strict restrictions
WASHINGTON: (Monitoring Desk) The US embassy in Kabul ordered stringent personnel lockdown on Thursday, citing an increase of coronavirus cases at a mission already under strain ahead of the US military pullout from Afghanistan. According to an embassy announcement, 114 people at the large and tightly guarded mission have acquired Covid-19 in Afghanistan’s third wave, one has died, and several more have been medically evacuated.
All team sports and most interior meetings are outlawed, according to the US embassy in Kabul, with all workers being confined to their cells save to eat food, exercise, or relax alone. Failure to comply with the mission’s Covid policies may result in sanctions ranging from removal from post on the next available flight, the warning stated.
It also promoted immunisation. According to the report, 95% of the infections were among people who had not been properly vaccinated. At the embassy, vaccination was already common, but not ubiquitous. More than 90% of Afghan and other non-US workers at the embassy have received vaccine shots, according to the announcement.
The American Foreign Service Association, which comprises active and retired diplomats, warned that the Covid epidemic might have “potentially catastrophic” ramifications for US foreign policy, urging President Joe Biden’s administration to act quickly. Unless there are medical or religious reasons, the group wants the State Department to require vaccines for all staff of US embassies across the world, including non-US nationals.
All workers were urged but not required to be vaccinated, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price. Price told journalists, We do expect normal embassy activities to restart once embassy leadership is sure the line of communication has been broken. Although some US health-care providers have made vaccinations mandatory, the topic has become politically charged united states, with the far figures accusing the government of excess.
Concerns over escalating violence and threats in Kabul prompted the State Department to order the removal of non-essential personnel from Afghanistan in April. The turmoil comes amid worries of Taliban gains following Biden’s order to remove all troops by September 11, bringing an end to the US’s longest military action in history, which lasted 20 years.
Life has returned to normal in the United States following mass vaccination, but infections have recently increased in Afghanistan, despite the fact that the official death toll from Covid-19 is in the low thousands, far less than the almost 600,000 deaths in the United States. The US announced $266 million in aid to Afghanistan earlier last month, primarily to combat coronavirus.
