The Ministry of Public Health on Sunday said that the mutated type of COVID-19 has reached India and Pakistan and might move to Afghanistan. 

The ministry called on the people to limit their travels over the next four weeks to contain a possible movement of the mutated version of the virus to Afghanistan. 

The new type of COVID-19 was first found in Britain last year in December. 

“The PCR test can also diagnose COVID-19 but we cannot detect the type of the virus,” said Masooma Khawari, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health. 

The ministry said that limitations have not been imposed at the country’s borders to prevent the spread of the new type of the virus to Afghanistan. 

Nangarhar governor Zia-Ul-Haq Amarkhil said that there are preliminary facilities for COVID-19 detection in the country’s crossing points with Pakistan. 

“In Torkham, we have initial measures. The fever of each passenger is checked and if they show symptoms, they are required to get tested for the virus,” said Amarkhil. 

The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation could not provide figures about the number of Afghans returning to the country through Islam Qala and Torkham crossings in the last week. 

“The return of refugees from Iran is more than those who return from Pakistan because Afghans can only enter the country from Iran,” said Abdul Basit Ansari, an adviser to the refugees' ministry. 

The new type of coronavirus has been detected in more than 30 countries in the world. 
 
The Ministry of Public Health on Monday reported 103 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 1,575 samples tested in the last 24 hours. 
The Health Ministry stated that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 53,011, the total number of reported deaths is 2,237, and the total number of recoveries is 42,530. 
 
The number of deaths from COVID-19 globally is more than 1,843,342 and the number of known global coronavirus cases is 85,141,293, according to Johns Hopkins University.