This was a change from alternating between odd and even weekdays from 7 am until 1 pm (and later 8am to 4 pm) instituted in June-July. In early August, working hours for government and non-government organizations were normalized to their pre-pandemic level.Many domestic and international flights, including for exports via air corridors, have resumed. Borders points were reopened over the summer of 2020, and cross-border traffic was nearly back to pre-crisis levels before the recent closing.The government progressively eased the lockdown from late May 2020, with most containment restrictions removed and businesses re-opened by end-August.Oxfam estimates that the number of people on the brink of famine in Afghanistan has risen to 3.5 million in 2020 from 2.5 million in September 2019. Income and job losses in the formal and informal sectors pushed thousands of Afghan families into poverty, threatening to reverse social development gains of the past decade. Border closures and panic-buying led to a temporary spike in prices of foodstuffs in April 2020, which has abated with the re-opening of borders in early June. The pandemic and containment measures introduced at the onset of the pandemic disrupted domestic activity and trade. In addition to the vaccine shortage, the inoculation campaign is also facing administrative challenges and vaccine hesitancy in rural areas. is delivering 3 million doses of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine this week. In response, China donated 700,000 doses, and the U.S. That said, less than one percent of the population has been fully vaccinated so far, and Afghanistan is facing a vaccine shortage after a large shipment has been delayed significantly. Vaccination of another 28 percent of population is expected to be funded by World Bank and ADB grants. The COVAX facility aims to provide vaccines covering 20 percent of the population, with the first shipments of 468,000 doses delivered in early March. Inoculations using 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine donated by India started in February. Essential workers and groups prioritized by the National Technical Committee based on their vulnerability to COVID-19 will be vaccinated first. The authorities aim to vaccinate 60 percent of the population. In consultation with the neighboring countries, they have also halted the movement of people across borders while keeping them open to trade and cargo transit. In response, the authorities have closed schools until further notice and are trying to speed up vaccinations. Almost a third of the individuals tested recently had the infection. Schools reopened on February 28, and universities resumed in person instruction in early March 2021.Īfghanistan is currently going through a severe third wave of infections, with the number of cases and deaths topping the peaks of the first wave a year ago.
Afghanistan experienced a relatively moderate second wave of infections during November-December 2020 with infections declining since early 2021. It imposed countrywide lockdown in late March 2020, which was subsequently extended twice. As the infection spread, the government tightened containment measures, including introducing screening at ports of entry, quarantine for infected people, and closure of public places for gathering. Afghanistan reported its first COVID-19 case on February 24, 2020. The tracker includes information that is publicly available or provided by the authorities to country teams and does not represent views of the IMF on the measures listed.īack to Top Afghanistan, Islamic Republic ofīackground. Adding up the different measures-tax and spending, loans and guarantees, monetary instruments, and foreign exchange operations-might not provide an accurate estimate of the aggregate policy support. The information included is not meant for comparison across members as responses vary depending on the nature of the shock and country-specific circumstances. NOTE: The tracker focuses on discretionary actions and might not fully reflect the policies taken by countries in response to COVID-19, such as automatic insurance mechanisms and existing social safety nets which differ across countries in their breadth and scope. This policy tracker summarizes the key economic responses governments are taking to limit the human and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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