KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan is racing to ramp up supplies of oxygen as a deadly third surge of covid-19 worsens, a senior health official said Saturday.
The government is installing oxygen supply plants in 10 provinces where up to 65% of those tested in some areas are covid-positive, Health Ministry spokesman Ghulam Dastigir Nazari said.
By WHO recommendations, anything higher than 5% shows officials aren't testing widely enough, allowing the virus to spread unchecked. Afghanistan carries out barely 4,000 tests a day and often many fewer.
Afghanistan's 24-hour infection count has also continued its climb from 1,500 at the end of May, when the Health Ministry was already calling the surge "a crisis," to more than 2,300 last week. Since the pandemic outbreak, Afghanistan has reported 101,906 positive cases and 4,122 deaths. But those figures are likely an undercount, registering only deaths in hospitals -- not the far-greater numbers who die at home.
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Afghanistan received 900 oxygen cylinders from Iran on Saturday, part of 3,800 cylinders Tehran promised to deliver to Kabul last week.
Afghanistan has even run out of empty cylinders, receiving a delivery of 1,000 last week from Uzbekistan.
Meanwhile, hospitals are rationing their oxygen supplies. Afghans desperate for oxygen are banging on the doors of the few suppliers in the Afghan capital, begging for their empty cylinders to be filled for covid-infected loved ones at home.
Abdul Wasi, whose wife has been sick for nearly 10 days, has been waiting four days for one 45-liter cylinder to be filled at the Najb Siddiqi oxygen plant in east Kabul. Scores of mostly men were banging on the 10-foot steel gate of the oxygen plant. Some rolled their empty oxygen cylinders up against the gate, while others waved small slips of paper carrying the number of their cylinder inside the plant, waiting to be filled.
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Wasi said there were no hospital beds for his wife, whose oxygen level hovers around 70-80%. They are rationing her, he said, giving her small amounts of oxygen when it drops to around 45-50%.
"How can I do anything else? I have been waiting four days for my cylinder to be filled," he said. The oxygen plant refills cylinders for roughly $5, while in the market it costs about $50.
For the country's poor -- over half of Afghanistan's 36 million people according to World Bank figures -- the situation has become desperate.
Wasi said Friday as he waited outside the oxygen plant that a patient on a stretcher was carried to the door while the family begged for oxygen. The patient died.
"Right there," he said, pointing to the gate. "I saw them carrying the patient. They were crying and begging, and then he died."
Barat Ali had arrived at the plant at 6 a.m. Saturday. It was his third day waiting for his cylinder to be filled.
"The poor people in this country have nothing. I have been standing in the sun for eight hours," he said, clutching his small piece of paper with his cylinder number. The government "has eaten all the donations."
Necephor Mghendi, who is the Afghanistan delegation head for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said that the groups are working to get an oxygen generation plant into the country. The Afghan Red Crescent runs a 50-bed hospital devoted to covid patients and uses roughly 250 cylinders a day, but in recent days it has been receiving barely half that many.
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The need is critical, he said, offering as an example one patient currently at the Red Crescent hospital who needs a 45-liter cylinder every 15 minutes to stay alive, he said.
"The situation is very concerning," he said.
In the oxygen plant, dozens of cylinders were being filled, but owner Najib Siddiqi said he can't keep up. He supplies hospitals but has cut output by half, with the other half going to the crowds banging on his gates. He even fills smaller cylinders for free, but he has only the capacity to fill 450-500 cylinders a day.
"It's not enough. They are outside like this all day," he said.
ENGLAND FESTIVAL
In Great Britain, thousands of heavy metal fans were camping, singing -- and even moshing -- on Saturday at the first full music festival since the start of the pandemic.
The three-day Download Festival, taking place at Donington Park in central England, is one of a series of test events to see whether mass gatherings can resume without triggering outbreaks of covid-19.
About 10,000 fans, a tenth of the festival's pre-pandemic attendance, secured tickets to watch more than 40 U.K.-based bands including Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Enter Shikari and Bullet for My Valentine.
Attendees all took covid-19 tests before the event, and don't have to wear masks or follow social distancing rules during the festival.
Promoter Andy Copping said there was a "real sense of euphoria" at the event, which runs through today, despite the wet weather lashing much of the U.K. after several weeks of warm sunshine.
"It wouldn't be Download unless there was a bit of rain," he said.
Concertgoer Alexander Milas said rain and mud would not mar the event.
"In a way, it makes it better," he said. "It is amazing how that brings people together. The sheer misery and joy of being around a lot of like-minded, really wonderful people. I feel like it is perfect because it's like 'Weather be dd, we are going to have a great time.'"
Britain has recorded almost 128,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest toll in Europe. The government has delayed the lifting of its remaining social and economic restrictions for four weeks from the planned June 21 date amid a rise in cases driven by the highly contagious delta variant first identified in India.
Information for this article was contributed by Kathy Gannon, Tameem Akhgar and Jill Lawless of The Associated Press.
