20 of Afghan president’s palace staff have virus: officials
About 20 workers in Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s palace have tested positive for the coronavirus, two officials told AFP on Saturday, but up to now, there is no indication the president himself has been infected.
“Twenty-odd persons are infected with COVID-19 in the presidential palace. However, it really is (being) kept under wraps to make sure no panic is caused,” one government official said.
A second official confirmed the quantity, and said yet another 12 people from the president’s administrative office had also contracted the virus.
Ghani’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi declined to comment and referred questions to medical ministry, which also would not comment, saying it didn't disclose the identity of its patients.
Ghani, 70, recently started out his second term as president and faces multiple crises, including a floundering peace process and an attack on his authority by his bitter rival Abdullah Abdullah, who also offers claimed the presidency.
Kabul happens to be on a coronavirus lockdown, which authorities recently extended for three weeks, and all government offices are shut.
Afghanistan has officially reported only 933 cases of coronavirus, including 33 deaths.
However the impoverished nation has already established only limited usage of testing, and observers fear the true numbers are much higher.
Ghani lives in a sprawling palace compound in central Kabul. Recent official photographs have displayed him wearing a mask and gloves, and mainly holding online meetings with officials.
