Via The New York Times: Coronavirus Spreads to Afghanistan’s Presidential Palace: Live Updates. Excerpt:
At least 40 staff members in Afghanistan’s presidential palace in Kabul have tested positive for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, Afghan officials said on Sunday, forcing President Ashraf Ghani to isolate himself and attend events via video conference.
There is no evidence that Mr. Ghani himself is infected, and it was not known whether he has been tested.
But an official at the palace said that most of the 40 people who tested positive work for the administrative wing of the president’s office, the national security council and the office of Mr. Ghani’s chief of staff. A second senior official confirmed that dozens had tested positive after hundreds of palace workers were tested more than a week ago. Those with confirmed infections were sent into quarantine. The official did not provide more details.
Mr. Ghani, 70, who lost much of his stomach to cancer decades ago, has kept himself isolated in recent weeks, appearing in person only at some events and attending most of his engagements via video conference.
A document was thought to be the most likely source of contagion in the palace, Reuters reported, but it could not be independently confirmed. The Afghan president has a penchant for reading; he spends many evenings poring over government documents at his residence, and often rewrites strategy papers drafted by his officials.
The flow of people into the palace has been reduced. Visitors are sprayed with disinfectant head to toe and subject to temperature checks before they are frisked by elite guards in hazmat suits.
But in early March, more than two weeks after the first positive case was recorded in Afghanistan, thousands of guests packed into the palace as Mr. Ghani took the oath of office for his second term — even though his administration was already discouraging gatherings to slow the spread of the virus.
Afghanistan has reported just under 1,000 coronavirus cases. But those numbers certainly underestimate the spread, officials say, since testing has been extremely limited. The country has conducted only about 7,000 tests.
